I Wanna Live a Life From a New Perspective
by SmileandWaveBoys
Summary: They would say a stuck-up prince like Jason Grace would be poise about his life, despising most around him, including that one lady who constantly forces him to the extent. But when he has a proposal with a princess and a new kingdom that needs guidance, the last thing he expects is being shot to the world of 2015 and to actually – dare he say it – fall in love. Jasper (with P!ATD)
1. Salty Waves Against My Skin

**A/N: The title to this song was inspired from Panic! At The Disco by the way, if it wasn't clear already. The whole story is basically revolved around this one song because, well, they're gonna live a life from a new perspective. I'm not sure if the entire thing is gonna be in Jason's POV or alternating between Jason and Piper, but for now, it's going to be just Jason until I feel Piper's is necessary.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the song** ** _New Perspective_** **by P!ATD, nor do I own the Percy Jackson series.**

* * *

 _~I feel the salty waves come in_  
 _I feel them crash against my skin~_

* * *

Jason had a feeling this was going to come up eventually. He knew it from the moment Octavian came rushing through the corridors that a problem would have become conjured immediately and there was nothing he could do about it. Sighing, he raised from his seat and reluctantly nodded for the guard at the end of the hall to open up the doors. The guard that went by the name of Frank Zhang (a strange name if Jason had anything to do with it, considering it wasn't exactly native to the kingdom) didn't audibly groan, but Jason could tell he wasn't exactly pleased by this judging by the grimace apparent on his face.

Octavian was Jason's cousin and he was most definitely a pain in his arse, if he had anything to do with it. Ever since a young age they had relentlessly argued with each other over the most silliest of things and fought the most ridiculous of battles. Never together, of course. He was the uttermost arrogant and deceitful should have been his real name. Jason swore to all the gods in the world that offered to listen to him, if Octavian hadn't been family (he mentally cringed at the word) and royalty, he would've been long kicked out to the dungeons.

But unfortunately, Jason didn't even have the power to do that since he was merely a prince and yet to be married _and_ his father, the actual king of the area, would never allow it. He seemed to always appreciate Octavian's mindless efforts which only ticked off Jason even more. So, being him, he always shrugged it off, knowing full well that no matter _what_ it was Jason that would become king and never the other.

At least he hoped endlessly that that was the case.

Octavian walked in what he most probably presumed to be a stylish manner, letting the elegant robes only people with high caliber would be caught wearing around here, and halted abruptly. Then, slowly as if he was savoring this, sneered, "You've got a problem."

Jason mentally growled, but he knew that he was being watched if not by Octavian very closely. He knew better than to voice his true opinion aloud. Years of self-preservation ensured that. Saying as kindly as possible as he could (which wasn't by much, if he may add), "And you've made that quite clear. Moving on?"

His cousin looked as if he was trying his best not to roll his eyes at what Jason had said. It was always a battle between them as to who would lose their restraint first, and Jason was proud to say that...well, to him it seemed he was losing desperately but he thought it better for that to be kept to himself. "The king wanted me to tell you that there's been an abrupt change to your coronation that was supposed to be happening in one moon's time."

At this, Jason's eyebrows raised. "Oh? And if it was so important why couldn't the king tell me himself? Must he stay reserved even if it is something that has to do with me?"

Octavian's mouth twitched as if he couldn't decide on what facial expression to wear. It was clear he picked an impatient one; perhaps one that showed Jason that Octavian was more than eager to deliver the rest of the news. "That's for you to discuss with him." Jason, however, got the rest of the message: _I didn't come here to converse daddy issues with you._ The prince nodded as permission for his cousin to continue. "He was pleased to express that in order to become king, despite his increasing illness which would be the main reason why you are to become one, you would have to reach adulthood, which you will be turning eighteen in three days worth of time, so that part was fulfilled. However, he sent me to tell you that there was another requirement that you needed to complete, which you hadn't already."

Jason already knew what was coming up and opened his mouth to speak, but it only rendered him useless when Octavian finished his prideful gloating with not a single care in this world. "You haven't picked a lady, of course, if I hadn't already made it clear enough." _Oh, yes you have, you stump._ "And your father also told me to tell you that if you don't pick a rightful partner in time for your coronation, the opening for what you've practiced for so deeply will be blocked and there is nothing you can do about it."

Jason blinked at him, not letting anything get past his stony glare. He would never let it show just how much this was affecting him. He'd rather get scythed by one of his own swords before let that happen. "And assuming why this makes you happy to the extreme would be because you'd get the position?"

His cousin scowled as if he couldn't believe Jason had been too dimwitted to believe such a shallow thing. Of course, he understood his cousin more than the other way around and that only made things more infuriating. "Oh, please. I don't need to hear your pitiful jealousy at a time like this. I'm only warning you because I felt it was needed." _More like boasting because Octavian felt he needed it_.

Then, Jason's mind caught up a little as he thought of what he was going to say next. "Don't forget, dear cousin, I actually do have a girl in waiting."

Octavian scoffed, a quiet one not to seem too rude, but it was still a scoff and Jason knew that there was a double-meaning to it. "You surely don't mean Princess Reyna from Bellona's kingdom? That queen has to be the most strictest of all. I don't recall her exactly being friendly with our kingdom. And even so, I don't believe you actually proposed to Princess Reyna yet. And if you did soon, are you so sure she would say yes?"

 _She would. Because I've already asked her._ And it was true. He remembered how the previous night his letter came back from Reyna's kingdom and in it it claimed her answer to his other letter he sent her for proposal. He wished he could have told her in person about how he felt about her and the proposal itself, and he remembered he was so glad that her answer appeared to be an accepting one. The only reason why he didn't tell this to Octavian yet was because he wasn't absolutely finalized with that plan yet. He hadn't talked to Queen Bellona about what she felt about it, but he really did have his hopes high. If only Octavian could see that.

Jason and Reyna have been childhood lovers from the start. Though her mother didn't exactly approve of their relationship, Reyna had always treated him with nothing less than kindness and he knew that he should do the same with her. He remembered he promised her that he would wait for them to grow up to get married, but that had been when they were seven. He was glad now that he made it more clear for her about his intentions.

"I have a deep suspicion she would, yes," it was really all he _could_ promise Octavian to knock him off his high horse. Even if it was just for a small moment.

* * *

Jason had been looking forward to this day for a long while. One reason would be because it was a day before his eighteenth birthday and that automatically made him giddy for a reason he didn't know. But mainly it was because that day was a major ball that he had every interest in attending. The ball would be accepting all of the finest royalties from around all of the kingdoms. It would be held in a magnificent hall where most commoners would drop dead in absolute awe at the brilliancy the hall radiated.

But to him, all he could think about was Reyna. He absolutely had to speak with her about the proposal. He needed to know her thoughts. That was what being in love felt like, right? Even now, he sort of doubted what was the exact purpose of being in love so it was understandable that he felt absolutely clueless at the point.

Nevertheless he let the servants comb his hair down once more before letting the day go on until he arrived at the ball.

And he was most definitely impressed. There were servants that walked around between tables, making sure all of the guests were well-attended to while bowing politely as each royalty entered the large room. He greeted various members of the huge royalty chain before taking a glass of what looked to be wine and holding it to his lips. Just before the sweet liquid could enter his mouth, a light voice reached his ears, making him turn almost immediately to hear who could've made that noise. It didn't sound like anyone he knew but the voice was so _smooth_ that it startled him enough that he almost lost control of where his drink would be landing if he wasn't careful.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you. I had some myself, and I practically retched it all out the second I got the chance."

It was a girl, of course. Most likely not one from any of the royalty members, but her dark but radiant skin glowed like she could be from there. Her hair framed her heart-shaped face so angular-like that Jason's eyebrow rose. She smiled at him as if he was a long-lost friend, as if he was actually supposed to _know_ this girl. Her smile showed her full set of teeth and even then, there didn't seem like a single imperfection. But then again, it didn't seem she had imperfections anywhere. Even her strangely multi-colored eyes glittered strikingly.

Then it occurred to Jason just what exactly this lady had said and frowned. Despite her appearance, she clearly had no idea who he was. Glancing down at himself he felt insecure that his robes probably didn't show that he was, in fact, royalty, but he mentally smacked himself for it. Why should he care anyway? He had no one to impress. Except maybe Reyna, but he couldn't see his childhood lover anywhere. And the thought that he felt he wasn't looking hard enough made him once again doubt his feelings for the princess.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," the girl said again, crossing her arms across her chest and he had to force himself to look up before his eyes lingered more than it should. And that only made him feel more guilty about what he was doing to Reyna. For a man who claimed he was madly in love, he sure didn't feel that into it nor acted like it. He hoped one day the guilt would cease to exist any longer. "I didn't _actually_ throw up. I was exaggerating."

Jason continued to look at her weird, wondering what in the hell she was doing there, talking to him so casually as if she didn't even acknowledge who he actually was. That he was a king and should have been talked to more politely and not so casually, especially since, though it was clear she was strikingly gorgeous, that didn't render her a royal member which only labeled her as a commoner. _Maybe she doesn't know._ But that thought only ridiculed him further. Who _didn't_ know who he was?

Deciding that he might as well just play along since he wasn't exactly used to casualness from strangers, he said, "You talk very strange."

The girl's smile lit up her face even further and Jason had to cringe because he really found that it was attractive on her. _Bad, Jason. You're madly in love with Reyna. You've always been and you always will._ "I've been told. I'm Piper, by the way." The girl - Piper, she claimed - said, and, the most inappropriate of all, reached out her hand as if she was expecting him to actually shake it. He couldn't believe it. He looked around to see if anyone was watching and thought this was ridiculous as he did, but surprisingly, no one was paying attention to them. The girl still had no idea who he was, and that was the only thing that kept him from confronting her on why she was acting so casual and inappropriate.

But, refusing to make her make a fool out of herself, he reluctantly gripped her hand, surprisingly unsurprised that her fingers were baby smooth soft. Ignoring the part where he knew he was supposed to introduce himself, he skipped ahead, "Thank you for warning me about the drink."

She shrugged. "No problem." Again with the weird words. He'd never heard of a slang that included how she spoke. He really did wonder where she came from and why all of a sudden he felt incredibly awkward about talking to her. "Do you come to these things often?"

Jason stared at her, confused by her presence once again and how she had flung the word _things_ around as if it weren't worth her time. If she didn't want to be here, she could have just left. He wasn't sure if he could handle her at the moment with the problem of his coronation looming on the top of his head.

 _I need to find Reyna...I have to get her to her mom to marry me with her daughter._

Yet he wondered why he hadn't left the girl to go do so. He was now absolutely sure that Reyna would be here anytime now, and he knew that it was important for him to speak with her. He thought it was best now that if he swiftly ended the strange conversation he seemed to have accidentally sparked with Piper to attend to more important businesses. But before he could do exactly that, Piper found it in her to speak to him again. _Oh, joy,_ he thought irritably. And while Jason was sure Piper was a nice lady, she still seemed a little not in her right mind and he couldn't deal with that right now. "Do you have any idea of why that blonde kid over there keeps shooting daggers at everyone who passes yet doesn't acknowledge him properly? 'Cause he's freaking the jujubes out of me."

Jason knew she was talking about Octavian himself, and while he couldn't agree more, this girl's words were seriously intriguing him. He also wondered why no one was keeping her company at the moment; had she come here alone? And if so, from where?

"Jujubes...?" As if just realizing was she said, Piper's eyes widened before she let out a small giggle.

"Yeah, jujubes. It's...something people back in my family used to say a lot," her eyes looked up at him nervously, as if she was expecting him to reprimand her for saying such a _ridiculous_ word.

"And where exactly would that be?" He found himself saying, not caring anymore if he was sounding rude. He was a fingernail's length of time away from telling her to leave him in peace while he searched for Reyna.

Something flashed on Piper's features, something that reeked of sudden annoyance before she stared steely at him. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

Jason made a noise with his nose that could only be described as an impatient snort. "No, but it didn't occur to you of nosing in on someone's business when you started talking to me, did it? You have no idea who I am, and yet, you become hostile with me."

"I forgot how insanely sensitive these people were," Piper seemed to mutter to the air, looking up as if she wanted to pray to someone that would listen to make him disappear. And gladly he would, to escape such a strange unpleasant woman, even if her looks managed to distract him in the beginning. Before he could open his mouth to retort, a shape appeared behind Piper, but Jason was too annoyed to notice at first until it started speaking.

"Piper, you didn't tell me you would attend such a party!"

Jason's head snapped up at the familiar feminine voice before his lips immediately formed a pleasant smile. And then it dropped when he saw Piper bow down respectfully for her - more specifically, Reyna. Then Reyna told her strictly to get up and greet her the right way. And Jason felt his mouth drop in shock at what Piper did next: she hugged the princess. Princess - meaning royalty. How strangely improper, he thought. By the time the girls have 'caught up' with each other in the most utterly strangest way Jason had ever seen (he still couldn't fortify the fact that Reyna knew such a strange creature yet was pleasant by her), he managed to at least regain his composure the most he could.

Cutting Piper off about just how much she claimed to have missed the person he hoped to marry, he stuttered, "I see...you two know each other."

Piper stopped her conversation quickly and turned to stare, looking absolutely peeved. "Oh, you finally realized." Understandably, Jason shot her a sharp glare. He absolutely despised her attitude.

Reyna, on the other hand, laughed a little, easing Jason just a little bit out of tension if anything. "I see you two know each other as well."

"Not really," he intervened, his eyes never leaving Piper's hostile ones, not once. "She doesn't seem to get it in her head that royalty are to be treated respectfully, nothing which you seem to have any idea of, and the only reason why I'm not planning on creating a petition for getting you thrown in the dungeons is because you happen to be friendly with my dear wife-to-be."

Piper's heated glare finally seemed to simmer down as she noticed the quick turn of events. Her entrancing eyes widened before opening her mouth then closing it again. But, once again, Jason's ego diminished whilst his confusion increased when her rose lips cracked into a wide smile. "You must be Prince Jason, then. Reyna's told me so much about you."

Instead of thinking of what exactly Reyna thought of him like he knew a man in love should think, he instead found himself growing more annoyed with this girl, but that fact no longer startled him anymore. He was starting to lose his composure and he didn't even know why. The things she said to him weren't even that bothering, he had dealt with worse, so why was he so frustrated by the thought of her now? But before he could say anything, Reyna once again cut him off from an expensive retort.

"Speaking of which," she started to say nervously as if she just noticed the thick tension between the air. "I spoke with my mother, Queen Bellona, about our situation."

That made Jason's attention spark up. He glanced eagerly at Reyna, hoping for a positive answer and that she would deliver it. "And? Please tell me that we are to be wed by my coronation."

Reyna's thin lips smiled softly at him yet lovingly, which confirmed his hopes all along. "She told me it was possible to do so after speaking with your father."

Jason felt himself smiling despite everything. He knew that not only did he get to oppose Octavian in the long run, but he now would marry his childhood lover and that satisfied him more than anything. Looking around to see that everyone else was busy discussing matters with the other royal members (he thought it was slightly strange that nobody bothered them by now, but considering there were people of higher status such as the King and others, he decided to shrug it off), he reached over and hugged Reyna tightly before dropping a deep, lasting kiss on Reyna's lips. "That's wonderful, honestly. I'll be looking forward to every moment of it."

Piper, despite it all (he'd almost forgotten she was there), startled them both so effortlessly like she always did from what he'd seen so far. "I advise you two to get a room tonight. You'll be needing it very much."

Again with her strange way of talking, he thought as he unwrapped his arms around his now pending fiancee. He still didn't understand what exactly Piper did to have him all riled up, but he knew he was too afraid to find out. He also knew that next time he went to a party like this, he would have to get more secure guards to keep him away from absolute mindless women such as Piper. He didn't know what he would do to himself if he had to deal with this girl more often.

Being the correct gentleman he was, he let out: "Your manners are _the_ most - "

Of course, he never got to finish his sentence before Reyna's sigh interrupted them. "Oh, Jason, love, can't you just drop - ?"

"No, it's alright," Piper stated with faux perkiness. She had her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed at him as if she couldn't believe he actually existed before him. "It takes a real man, an authentic Prince Charming to outwardly tell a woman her own habits without even knowing _anything_ \- "

Reyna cleared her throat, staring at them strangely. At that moment, he wondered what Reyna thought of the two of them acting this way. He wasn't acting like a proper prince, he knew it, much less an almost king. And later, after he bid Reyna good night with another passionate kiss and Piper another slight glare, he wondered to himself while preparing himself for bed if he actually did deserve to become king after all.

* * *

 **A/N: I wasn't completely satisfied with how this turned out, but I hope you guys have different opinions about this. Tell me what you think in a review. Yes, Jason has conflicting emotions about Reyna, and yes, he's a jerk. But (hopefully) he gets better later on.**

 **Sorry for the Jeyna, by the way. I was going to make it worse but I couldn't stand it too much; I kept on wincing and deleting it. Next chapter might or might not be a doozy though. Just warning.**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


	2. Smile 'Cause They Won't Win

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters at all, nor do I own the song** ** _New Perspective_** **by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~And I smile as I respire_  
 _because I know they'll never win~_

* * *

Prince Jason woke up abruptly that day to the sound of a loud voice pulling him away from sleep. So, of course, it was natural for him to groan from irritation. "Your-soon-to-be-Highness, sir, you must wake up to start preparing for this day. Everyone will be arriving to the palace shortly for the celebration." The voice was a man's, that much was clear by the gruffly but somehow polite tone the words were spoken in. Again, Jason hesitated in waking up, but he was, however, mildly curious to what the man was saying.

"I don't recall a celebration worth enough to wake up at this ungodly hour," then, his temper getting the best of him (he was exhausted, after all), "So if it isn't a life or death situation, you should stop pestering me right now, or I'll make your situation precisely just that." The man padded away judging by the soft footsteps that he heard. Jason smiled satisfactorily, cuddling back into his feathered pillow like a small child.

Much to his grief, he only got a few seconds of real sleep before another voice woke him up, even stricter than before. "Sire, with all due respect, if you don't get out of this bed in this very instant I have a pitcher of water just waiting to be splashed all over your egotistic head." Someone who would have heard this conversation would have thought, _How can someone speak to a person with high social status like this without being turned into a foul rat?_ Well, the answer was, you either had to be another royalty member, or Dakota, one of his very close friends along with a few others and Reyna.

He groaned even louder but didn't wake up.

"Fine, then, suit yourself." Just in that millisecond where Jason figured that his best friend was being rather serious and was actually going to follow through with that plan, cold matter crashed down upon him like some sick, cruel joke from the gods and he stood straight like a dagger before one could perhaps say 'jujubes' (and _yes_ , he still remembered that untimely girl that brought up that word in the first place, but he would not be in the mood for it if one brought up _her_ at this very moment).

"Dakota!" he barked with unwanted fury. "When I have my hands on you, I will - "

"You will what?" the dark-haired boy in front of him challenged, raising an eyebrow. He was wearing one of his fancier robes with glittering sequins and jewelry, convincing Jason that maybe there was something important he had to do that day. _What day was it exactly?_ "Throw me in the dungeons? Or perhaps, make me eat rabbit dung similar to a three-course meal? Would you really follow through with that?"

He absolutely hated it when Dakota was right, which honestly, wasn't that often. Sighing regretfully, he said softly much in contrast from his boisterous noise from before, "What exactly do you need, my dear friend?"

Dakota stared at him as if he had grew a second head. Then guessing that Jason really didn't know, he stated obviously, "It's your eighteenth birthday, you dimwit. In a moon's time from now, you'll be king whilst Reyna be queen. You have another celebration to attend to, and you must be getting ready for the one in the time of high sun and in the evening."

Needless to say, Jason reluctantly got out of his covers, glanced at his bare chest before dashing to the bathroom to wear a quick robe in preparation for the servants to help him get ready for his eighteenth.

He let Dakota help him put on his robes for the morning's celebration and they worked together silently. His robes were rather pale, but that was understandable since the celebration wasn't going to be in the evening. For night celebration, his robes were going to be deep red with touches of purple to make it seem elegant, which he should, and everyone would be watching him so it was rather important that he make himself seem presentable.

As for Dakota, he wasn't really a servant. He came from one of the nobles' families, hence the fancy clothing he had worn, but he wasn't particularly royal. But him and Jason used to play together quite often in their younger years and that was how their friendship stuck. But sometimes Dakota treated himself like he was a servant to Jason, like right at that moment, and that made him sad. Much to his reluctance, he let Dakota help him.

It wasn't until Jason was almost completely done with dressing up that Dakota finally opened his mouth to talk. "So, if you don't mind me asking, sire - " Jason rolled his eyes at the unnecessary politeness his close friend was giving him, " - how was Octavian's face when you rubbed it in his face that you found a wife suitable enough to make you king?"

Jason chuckled, remembering how Octavian considerably blanched when he told him that Reyna said yes all along and their parents agreed to it. "Indescribable but thoroughly pleasant, if I do say so myself."

Dakota's strangely red lips cracked a wide grin at this information (he had a passionate hatred for Jason's cousin, one that he could relate to). "Oh, I can imagine, sire."

It was a while before Jason spoke up again. "You should stop with the formalities, you know. We're closer than that."

Dakota smiled again, his expression softening. "Yes, I know, but I feel...that it's just better to do it this way. It makes me remember what you really are." Jason frowned at his later words. _What I really am? Did he take me for a demon?_ He shrugged it off later, thinking that Dakota probably said the words not the way he meant them and he put back his reluctant smile. Then, Dakota's expression morphed into a mischievous one, one that Jason would most probably regret answering. "But, forgetting that, how are things with...you know, the Princess?"

Jason cleared his throat, not entirely sure what Dakota was implying by this yet he still had a pretty good idea. "It's...good. I wouldn't choose to marry any other royal. But if your true intentions with that question was that if I'm secretly doing sinful things with her at night, then I can tell you right now, you're wrong."

His friend pouted, clearly not happy with the answer. "You two are so boring together, honestly."

Jason cracked a grin, his mood now returning after that uncomfortable situation. "Sorry to disappoint, friend." Some more servants entered the room to help hurry the business so they were forced to stop talking so openly, much to Jason's triumph. After the servants had finished and stepped out of the room, Jason had finished dressing up completely and Dakota stepped back to watch his work. After critiquing quickly over minor issues, they were done. But before they could go walk out, a knock at the room was heard to both of the men.

Dakota looked at Jason cautiously. "Are you expecting anyone?" Jason furrowed his eyebrows to tell his friend no, but before he could, another voice, muffled from behind the door stood out. It was familiar enough for him to relax himself and for a lazy smile to take over his features. He hadn't exactly been expecting to see her so soon, but she was always a pleasant surprise.

"Jason? May I come in?" It was Reyna, that much was clear to him. Dakota glanced sideways to him before smirking and mouthing, _have fun_ before walking forwards and opening the door to let his lover in. She was dressed in a gown similar to his; rose white with elaborate jewels decorating all around her body, making him want to look away from some open skin he felt a gentleman should do, and her face was painted lightly for the occasion. Her hair was obscured in an elaborate yet somehow casual way.

"Always, my dear." Reyna smiled softly before walking towards him and reaching up to plant a kiss on his lips. He wrapped his arms around her, carefully not touching anything that might damage her gown and returned the smile back down to her.

"You look stunning," he offered because she really had. She never failed to outdo herself and that was one of the reasons why Jason wanted her as queen. An accomplished queen would lead to an accomplished kingdom which he really felt he needed.

"And you look ravishing," she returned, her grin now spread out that it showed all of her teeth. "Happy birthday, dear." He thanked her but after a while, her fingers played with one of the edges to his robe, seemingly deep in thought, her face glazing over to prove so. Being her friend and more for so long, he easily figured out there was something bothering her.

Jason kissed her forehead. "What are you thinking about, love?"

She shrugged at this momentarily. "About everything, really. About today - I've been told the caterers were one of the most exquisite. The guests are all from high caliber and close with each of the royal members. Everyone will be dressed in the most decorative robes such as yours and mine. I guess...also, the future...about - "

"- Us?" interrupted Jason, raising his eyebrows, smiling a little. Reyna flushed immediately looking down, hair tumbling out to cover her face before she pulled back a little to push it behind her ears. She was embarrassed, but that was understandable. He thought about them quite a lot too, if he was being honest. How they would be as a married couple, how many children they could bear together, how long they would...last. The latter part was bitter of him and he knew so, but one couldn't really blame him for it. All weds thought that way, didn't they?

At least he hoped so.

"Yes," Reyna said simply, still not quite looking in his eyes. Jason sighed before taking one hand and tilting her head so he could look into her obsidian eyes.

"Reyna...the future holds many gifts, that much I can say," he hesitated before saying what he knew the lady in front of him really wanted to hear, "As for us and how we will turn out...well, all I can tell is - "

" - Woah," another voice intervened, making Jason's heart stop precisely right there, the words he had prepared to say to his wife-to-be suddenly caught in his throat. "Am I interrupting something?"

That stupid, imbecile, bastard, the very _she-devil_ , annoying as - "Yes. Yes you were," Jason spoke, grimacing hard enough to make the negative thoughts disappear. It was that girl again from the previous night. That girl who said things in the most unheard of way, that girl who spoke to him so casually yet irritatingly as if they knew each other for years on end, that girl who told him not to drink that drink he so badly wanted to drink, that girl who had the most strangest mood changes, that girl who looked absolutely positively _gorgeous_ even when the dress she had been wearing that other night wasn't much...

That girl was standing right there in front of him.

And to the gods above, she looked amazing. Unlike his and Reyna's clothing, hers were darker not innocent, which described her personality very well. It covered most of her body, not allowing her feminine body to show through her dress, but it was tight enough to show that she had a jaw-dropping one. Hers also had jewels decorating everywhere, making her seem somehow taller than she really was. Her hair was down across her shoulders and her piercingly colored eyes glowed with mirth and mischief, much like Dakota's usually did, but there was a clear difference that Jason didn't fail to notice. Her face was clear of any paint to enhance her features. Yet someway...it didn't ruin her image. It only made it better.

...He _really_ shouldn't be staring at her like this. Especially when her personality was precisely the opposite. The memory of her back-talking to him like no one had ever done before snapped him out of his thoughts, and he found himself pulling off another glare in her direction.

 _Piper._ That was what they called her. Jason was sure he would never forget that name in his entire life.

"Why is she here right now on a day where I would really love to not see her on?" he asked Reyna without actually turning to her.

Reyna hesitated, which confirmed his suspicions all along and he felt himself sinking with sheer disappointment and utter dreading. That birthday was going to be horrid for sure. "I don't recall inviting her," he spoke through gritted teeth and clenched jaw. He really didn't understand why he despised this girl so quickly over just one night. Perhaps it was that she was just so different from everyone else that it set him on edge. Yes, that was what he would claim from then on, nothing else.

Piper smirked. She seemed to be enjoying his obvious pain more than anything. "There are no invitations. It's meant for royalty members only along with close friends. So, really, you didn't invite me. Princess Reyna did."

"I don't believe anybody was talking to you darling."

Reyna shifted uncomfortably in his arms, allowing his focus to strain to her. He felt bad for her, he really did. Piper was one of Reyna's close friends, their behavior from the other night proved so, so why couldn't he make an effort for her? They were going to be wed, after all. They should be making sacrifices for each other. Yet something told him that if it was anybody else who was in Piper's place, he would have pleased Reyna. Since that wasn't the case, he found it in him that he didn't care anymore. The girl annoyed him and that was that.

"True. I was talking to you, however," she snapped back, a cruel expression taking over her face. Then, reluctantly taking in Reyna's abashed face, she added, " _Sire_."

Jason smirked. "Ah, you really do have a scrap of humanity left in you, don't you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, pursing her lips. This time, Reyna didn't even try to stop the quarrel. Her face took on a blank expression, showing that she was absolutely done with their childish behavior. She probably expected him at least to act like a mature adult, considering the age he was turning, but he didn't care like he said before.

Someone snorted. "Mirror, babe."

Quite clearly, that was Piper.

Needless to say, she already ruined his mood and the celebration hadn't even started yet. He thought that perhaps if he got through with the celebration, he'd never have to see her face again and she'd go back to the hell she came from.

Honestly, it was altogether pathetic just how wrong he was with that inference.

* * *

 **A/N: A week and a half update. That has to be a record. Right? Jeyna again, yes, yes, I know, how do you think I feel I'm the one writing it. It makes for a clearer plot and...well, more dramatic, is all I can say. But you got slight, very very slight Jasper in here. So boom.**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


	3. Everything Will Change

**A/N: Prepare to get confused. Utterly. Just read the summary again.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters, nor do I own the song** ** _New Perspective_** **by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~There's a haze above my TV_  
 _That changes everything I see~_

* * *

By the time Piper oh-so gratefully excused herself to join the others at the lunch ball because she felt it was necessary to leave Jason and Reyna be for the time being, Jason perked his arm forward for his wife-to-be to slip her thin arm in his. He felt it was getting rather late, and he knew Dakota and the others whom he was close with would eat him up for his delayed timings. Whatever the cause, he sighed dramatically before the grand doors, the loud scattering from behind them made him understand the hastiness of the crowd to get the party started, and he turned to Reyna. "Everything in order?" he asked her, cocking his head to the side in thought.

Reyna beamed up at him before quickly brushing non existable dirt from her innocent gown and nodding eagerly. "More than it should be, yes." Judging from the placid grin that seemed to be permanently stuck on her face, Jason wasn't entirely sure what she meant with that statement. Was she talking about them as in _together_ them? Reyna always seemed to have a habit of putting a lot of confidence in what she believed in logically, and he had a feeling that she might be taking it to a whole new level.

 _I am seriously over thinking this. It is my birthday. I must find it in me to relax a little._

Planting a quick kiss on her forehead, he turned back to the guards, letting them know that it was okay to open the gates to the party. Frank Zhang, one of his top guards, nodded back in confirmation before signaling to just that. And open the gates he did.

Jason was immediately stunned by the decoration that had glamoured the hall he once thought to be big and plain. Now it was clearly to its extremist extravagance. White gloriously decorated sheets spun the room into shape, clearly matching his and Reyna's gowns. Along with that, the curtains were pushed back to let streaming sunlight in, reflecting upon everyone's bejeweled clothing making it gleam with brightness. He knew, however, that the decorations would be at once changed after the lunch's ball into darker colors for the dinner's, but he thought it best to make it last while it could.

"Oh, it's absolutely glorious!" Reyna exclaimed, her palms clutching her chest over her heart for more emphasis on her excitement. At this point, all eyes were now on them, cheering loudly for them as they walked down the hall, arm in arm. It was different, he thought. Normally when there were parties hosted in the ballroom, the other royalties always took center stage because they already claimed the throne. But now, as he watched Reyna smile at the crowd politely, he knew that this party was being thrown because he would soon become just like them.

"It's acceptable, I admit," he reviewed nonchalantly, trying his best not to show how pleased he was with the situation. However, he kept his chin up proudly and marched along with Reyna by his side to the very end of the hall where two large seats, not quite thrones but he could settle for now, perched. After being seated and finally releasing his arm from Reyna's due to the position of the chairs, Jason's father, the King, stood up from his throne with a glass in his hand, clearly ready to make a toast.

This signaled everyone else in the hall including Jason and Reyna to grab a wine glass of their own to prepare for the short speech that was to come. Jason had to admit; he was looking forward to this just as much as everyone else in the room. It wasn't everyday when his father proudly stood up for him in front of a handful of the finest people of the kingdom, and he was going to take this to heart. "Lovely ladies and gents," King Jupiter cried out, raising the glass in the air for everyone to see though it wasn't that hard. No one had moved a caterpillar's inch, awaiting the King's words.

"It has come to the time where the boy I have raised since he was half my forearm's height finally became admitted into the age of a person who can make clear, rightful decisions for the sake of the kingdom! This boy, my proud son, has taken it upon himself to seek a bride, and what a lovely bride she is," he pointed out, his head nodding towards the girl seated beside him, and she grinned back. He continued, "what absolute duties she can fulfill as queen and him as king, together, hand in hand to lead this kingdom to prosperity..."

By this point, Jason could see Reyna at one of her higher points of happiness, and he felt glad for her. Reyna always had a troubling childhood, with her sister meeting a very tragic end a few years back, and he was satisfied on taking the burden off of her. Yet, he felt he didn't know quite how to do that. Maybe after they were wed they would figure everything out: how to make each other happy and lead on a life that wouldn't end in heartbreak. He'd have to try hard for her that was for sure.

Whilst his father continued his speech about what he thought the future would hold as Jason and Reyna stood side by side for the kingdom, he couldn't help it when his eyes caught another's and he felt him swept away with the distraction.

Naturally, it was Piper that caught his attention, who seemed to be fidgeting with the ring on her right hand, though that wasn't a big surprise. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Piper stared back at him while raising an eyebrow, as if it blame it on him on why he was staring at her in the first place. Which wasn't a question he could answer himself, if he was being honest. As King Jupiter rambled on about his and Reyna's kids and how soon the eldest would be the heir to take his place, Piper wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at him.

He mentally snorted. _Take it up to her to be immature._ Piper then resorted to crossing her eyes and scrunching her nose while sticking out her tongue sideways, and he found that he had to bite down a laugh. She was clearly trying to make him at ease, and while he still thought she was abnormally strange yet somehow managing to look appealing throughout the hideous faces, he appreciated the effort though it was doing a lot to brighten up his mood.

Piper made another unintelligent face, causing him to accidentally let out a chuckle, one that wasn't too loud but loud enough that Reyna noticed. Quickly as if his exchange with Piper never happened, he snapped his neck to look at her in the eye. "Yes, love?"

"Nothing, dear..." Reyna shook her head, eyeing him suspiciously. Slowly, she smiled softly. "I haven't seen you genuinely smile all day long. What caused the sudden change?"

Jason winced, hopeful that she hadn't caught him sneaking glances at her friend. It would be hard to explain that while his father was preaching on just how good of a couple they would make, he wasn't paying even the slightest attention to what he knew he should be doing. "I just thought of something...it's not important, I promise." Reyna continued to stare at him strangely before a loud noise erupted, letting them know that the crowd was cheering to the King.

 _Saved by the father,_ he thought as he averted his gaze from her gratefully to the crowd and grinning stiffly for the crowd. He hadn't heard the rest of his father's speech, but he didn't care anymore. He chose to improvise and pretend he knew what the speech was saying as all eyes were on him now, and he had to act. That was, until, his eyes caught with a pair of multi-colored ones once again.

Jason knew he shouldn't have let his gaze linger on her, especially not with Reyna watching him so closely, and he flitted his eyes to another portion of the crowd to give him space. _Who am I trying to fool?_ His gaze returned to hers only to find she was smirking at him, making him realize that she most probably knew what had just happened and why he was so hesitant to look at her.

He was about to form a quick scowl on his face directed entirely to her, when Piper's lips started to move and she mouthed the words, _I'm bored too._

And, putting aside the fact that her language speaking was still entirely foreign to him, he genuinely smiled back because somehow, she knew exactly what he was thinking.

After that, the day went by a blur to him, especially since he resolved to talk to Reyna for the rest of the event, not wanting to get into more trouble he already felt he was in. However, at night was completely different.

The function itself had changed drastically; the decorations were now a darker maroon color and everything had changed back to how Jason always viewed the hall: the same. He still took Reyna as an escort, of course, but not before kissing her on her lips a few times so she forgot about what had happened in the morning. He didn't want to witness Reyna angry at him for something as feeble as what happened, but he knew she had a jealousy streak though there was no reason to be jealous. Jason didn't even view Piper as an _acquaintance_ let alone lover. And that was something he knew wouldn't change any time soon.

However, his plans to ignore the girl said all flew from his mind when she joined them that evening at their table. The difference between the morning event and the evening was that the morning was meant specifically to be formal. The King only showed up to the one in the morning because it was not only safer that way, but also so he wouldn't have to bother with the kingdom's relentless pestering. Selfish, Jason thought, but that was the way things worked. The evening was a lot less strict. Jason and Reyna were allowed to roam freely about, talking to whomever the wish to speak to and ignoring those who they didn't.

Jason had just finished his drink, now looking down back at it as he realized it was the same drink he remembered specifically that girl told him not to drink. He shrugged to himself, thinking that that theory was about as nuts as she was, and that he wouldn't be able to take anything seriously anymore from her.

 _I can toast to that._

But, the fates proved to despise him because that was precisely when Piper showed up. Reyna had turned around because of an insistent tapping on her arm. They turned around to meet her, and once again, he was baffled by what she was wearing. In the morning, her clothes were rebellious; now, they were almost innocent.

A complete switch from the rest of the guests, him and Reyna included. Nevertheless, with her blue dress, hair pulled up, and a non-painted face, she was stunning. This time, he didn't allow his mind to dwell in her beauty because he insisted that he remember the bad, irritable traits about her instead. He was surprised on how well it seemed to calm him down.

Reyna, who was next to him in a fancy maroon dress of her own, grinned at the sight of her friend. "Piper! You came!"

Piper's eyebrow twitched up in amusement. "You expected me not to?"

"No, no," Reyna shook her head dismissively, her face scrunching up to show her concern. "I'm glad you did, of course! I didn't see you this morning, however...at the ball, I mean. Not what happened...before that."

Jason knew she was referring to the fight that he and Piper had in his dressing room about her manners, but that wasn't what seemed to strike him at the moment. She hadn't noticed his glances at Piper throughout his father's long speech! It wasn't as if he was particularly cheating on Reyna or anything, that was preposterous, but he still felt strangely...guilty. Again, he blamed it all on Piper who started it all.

 _Another irritable trait she had._

Piper smiled slightly. "No, I was there." Her eyes met his for a split second, and he had to fight back sighing, knowing what he had to do.

"Yes, she was, darling," he said, resting his hand on Reyna's shoulder lightly, reassuring her. "The wine must have gotten to your head."

Reyna glared at him mockingly before rolling her eyes. From in front of him, Piper snickered. "Probably. I'll leave you two to be now. I have to go...run a quick errand."

 _Seriously, did no one notice the way she spoke their language? 'Run a quick errand'?_ he thought, completely confused as the girl walked away, her thumb rolling against her ring finger. She had a habit of doing that, he noticed. Maybe the ring had sentimental value that he didn't know about. _She'd gone buggers a long, long time ago, and she can't be saved now._

"Well, she left hastily," Reyna pointed out, now turning to face him completely. He was just about to shrug when a soft melody was being played, making his lips quirk up in delight.

"Care to dance, fair lady?" he offered cheekily, offering his arm once again. She curtsied before slipping her arm in his and reaching up to kiss him on the cheek gratefully.

"My pleasure, kind sir," she replied back, but her voice still seemed to be a little off, and he knew exactly what she must have been thinking. He could tell just from the way her face scrunched up back into that confused face he knew so well. Reyna was stiff, he'd admit, but he could read her like a scripture. He wondered offhandedly if she was ever able to do the same for him. Again, that was another issue he could figure out once they were married.

Confirming his thoughts, Reyna spoke up. "Have I ever told you how I met Piper in the first place?"

Jason was in the middle of wrapping his hands around her waist and hers on his shoulder as they continued to sway to the music when he answered back. "No, I don't believe so." And he found himself perk up a bit at the conversation, a little curious himself. A _lot_ curious, but he wouldn't dare admit that.

She grinned, her eyes glazed over deep in thought. "I had seen her near the palace while I was out taking a brief walk when I noticed she was out of breath, as if she had been running from somewhere...anyways, I had walked up to her to ask if she was alright - this happened a few years ago, thought you should know - and she smiled at me, you know that adorable smile she does when her eyes pop out and those little dimples show on the side of her cheeks?"

In fact, he _did_ know. He saw it especially that morning when Piper smiled for him to cheer up his mood a little, much more different than their behavior in the dressing room. He wondered what had made her opinion of him change so quickly. Maybe he _had_ been too quick to judge. Perhaps...he could try to understand her better...? He would never apologize, of course, because that was always unquestioned - why would a soon-to-be king apologize to a commoner, after all? But he could be...kinder, dare he say it.

All of a sudden, he felt his stomach tug a little and he felt a wave of nausea hit him hard. He struggled to maintain a straight face as to not distract Reyna from her story.. Maybe it was something he ate that was causing this?

"Well, she told me that everything was fine and I needn't be worried..." Reyna trailed off, lost in thought for a while. Jason felt his stomach tug again, a little harder this time and he debated about ending their discussion now for a later time while he checked what was going on. However, she continued, not noticing his discomfort. "Her clothes were tattered and her hair was a mess at the time. She clearly looked like she'd been running through the forest, but she absolutely refused to tell me where she had been...I think - "

 _"I wouldn't drink that if I were you. I had some myself, and I practically retched it all out the second I got the chance."_ He groaned audibly, his stomach now having done a violent flip, making Reyna stop midway to finally take a look at what was causing him the problem. How could he let himself be so stupid? So Piper had been telling the truth about the drink...he'd make sure to have a word with the caterers about the issue he had to deal with.

"Sorry, love, but my stomach isn't exactly agreeing with my food and beverage choices, so I must attend to them," he smiled apologetically at her. "I'm afraid I'll have to be right back." He made a move to turn around to dismiss himself but Reyna's voice stopped him.

"Oh, alright..." she looked worried, concerned even, so he shot her another smile. "Do you need me to come with you?"

He chuckled, smiling through the pain. He really was having a tough time right now, but his pride meant more to him than anything. "Not much you can do about it, love. But thanks for...offering. I'll be back in a few minutes." _Hopefully._ With one final awkward wave, he dismissed himself from the hall, claiming he had to go to the bathroom to anyone who wanted to discuss what was wrong.

Little did Jason Grace know in that moment, that what 'a few minutes' meant to Reyna and everyone else at the ball present was completely different what what was yet to come for him. Maybe he should have given her a proper goodbye right then, maybe have given them all a proper goodbye.

He wasn't going to see them in 'a few minutes' that was for sure.

The first thing that hinted him so was as soon as he threw up whatever was in his stomach, he turned around to head back to the ball. However, a quick almost unnoticeable flash of light hit him from the corner of his eye made him stop in his tracks. He waited a little while before shrugging and heading back to the party. Then, longer this time, it happened again. This time, he followed where he thought the light would be.

Turned out, it was somewhere a little more deeper in to the forest than he thought. The shadows and the evening noises that were created through nature did little to diminish his curiosity about the light. After longer periods of walking through the forest, he heard someone muttering, in his language no less, but it was...familiar...and feminine.

His eyebrow raised now, he walked towards the noise silently before feeling his jaw drop at the sight of a figure drawing patterns into the soil right there with something that glittered in the full moon light. A ring. Completely confused now, he decided to make himself known, thinking in his head that though this was very peculiar and odd, he should be getting back to the party now or the guests would start worry where he was.

"Piper? What are you doing?"

Her brunette head whipped backwards to face him, her colorful eyes widening at the sight of him as she jumped a little, startled. She stared at him, mortified for a reason he didn't know but intended to find out. As in, right then. Jason was furious, confused, and annoyed. All at once. But then again, this girl seemed to bring out so much more in him he never knew he had. But right then was not the time to dwell in such things.

"Jason!" her eyes glanced back and forth, sideways, seemingly petrified at seeing him there where he stood. Then suddenly, him still utterly confused, she began shaking her head, tears beginning to form in her eyes at whatever was going on. "Uh, I mean, sire..." she cleared her throat awkwardly whilst he rose an eyebrow at her. She was acting way more than suspicious now. "You...what are you doing here?"

He answered with no hesitation. "I could be asking you the same thing."

"Did you follow me here?"

He felt queasy at the thought. "No...well, not exactly." He glanced towards the ring he had noticed Piper always wore on her finger and how it was filled to the brim with dirt. He frowned.

"Look, whatever the case, you need to leave."

At this, he shot his eyes up to her, furious all of a sudden. "Me?! I need to leave?! I am absolutely _through_ with your behavior, lady! You can not expect people to just - "

" - Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but - " she forced out, moving towards him with her arms raised out as if she were trying to usher him out, but somehow while she was in a hurry to have him rid of (something he most personally wanted to pull both his _and_ her hair out at just how _angry_ she made him), her foot - that now seemed to be bare, he noticed, and not clad in the party's footwear - caught in a branch and she fell into his arms unceremoniously.

Jason caught her easily in his arms, his arms wrapping securely around her waist in order for her to stand up straight. Her eyes caught his one last time before he could now really see the tears threatening to fall out of her eyes, and all of the insults he thought of throwing her vanished from his mind. His only brief thoughts were how depressed and brought down she looked at this and how he wanted to see her smile that dimple-bringing-eyes-popping smile...his mind drifted to thinking of bringing his hand up to wipe away the stray tear that fell from her eyelid...

He didn't even notice the ground around him was shaking, or that the patterns on the soil seemed to glow from underneath them...all that he paid attention to was _her_.

But then she spoke.

"I really am sorry...it's too late now, I'm afraid...I couldn't even get the damn ring on time..." her voice sounded so broken, as if she was sympathizing for him. For what, he didn't know. What could this girl possibly be hiding from him? Yet, something told him he was to find out very soon. He found it in him that he was afraid of what could possibly happen, and he tightened his hold onto Piper subconsciously.

"I don't understand what you are - "

He immediately shut his mouth closed when a searing, burning hot _white_ substance flashed between his eyelids. However, instead of screaming in agony as he imagined himself doing if something like this would ever have happened (which is not something he _would_ imagine, mind that), he found himself slowly closing his eyes and vaguely felt himself falling.

With his arms still wrapped around her tightly, he brought Piper down with him.

* * *

 **A/N: YES, I KNOW, SO FREAKING CONFUSING. LIKE, HOW TF DID THAT ENDING GO FROM 0 TO 100 IN A SNAP OF A FINGER? HERE'S A HINT:** **Everything just gets more and more confusing from here on out. Be prepared.**

 ***says with confidence and puts on sunglasses like an effin' boss* _Jasper's about to get loaded._**

 **...Okay, ignore the top line please. I'm freaking tired, alright? Literally slept at two in the morning and woke up at 3:45 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. Don't judge if this chapter was crap af.**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


	4. Losing Familiar Traits

**A/N: Hopefully some questions are answered in this chapter but bear with me. There's still plenty more to come.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters at all nor do I own the song _New Perspective_ by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~And maybe if I continue watching_  
 _I'll lose the traits that worry me~_

* * *

A loud crack followed that noise along with a snapping in what Jason hoped desperately was nothing but a twig as he fell mercilessly on the ground, all his coherent thoughts gone awry. After unconsciously tapping the dirt around him in order to make sure he was now finally on solid ground after free-falling through the air like nobody's business, he stood shakily after a few moments, letting his hands go to his sides finally. He stared at his surroundings helplessly.

Trees. And trees. Vegetation, dirt, a few insects and other critters here and there, but nonetheless looked exactly like the forest he was in just moments ago. Except, he realized with a start, daytime...had he slept through the night? Had the fall been that bad that he had been completely knocked out from the impact? Staring at the sun that was now breaking through the horizon, he felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity that he couldn't shake off.

Then snapping out of his daze, he heard a throat clearing. He found himself jumping into the air for a brief moment before he rubbed down his tattered robes and pulled a small leaf from his hair and looked over at Piper, who seemed equally as run down as him. "Should've warned you about that..." she muttered sheepishly, looking down at the ground whilst one of her locks fell onto her face.

Jason raised an eyebrow. She knew that whatever happened would happen? Suddenly he felt an empty void in his gut, and he braced himself before turning back to Piper again. "I...I don't understand. How in Merlin's...how did we even... _fall_?" he looked to her bewilderingly, staring at her still strangely calm yet embarrassed face and ran his dirty hands through his hair in confusion. "We were on _solid ground_ , for God's sake! That...shouldn't even be possible..."

He felt his knees wobble but he straightened himself before they gave in. He was not going to look like a lost fool in front of a girl he barely even knew, though he _was_ a lost fool but it would take a genius to get him to admit it. Piper sighed in what he took as irritation but what was probably only frustration, though there was a fine line between them. "Alright...look, I'm...don't freak out, okay?"

Jason furrowed his blonde brows in frustration (and that he was sure of), and it was only then he realized he was pacing hastily back and forth, stepping over rich dirt and snapping twigs as he went. "Freaking out?" he asked in confusion. "I'm not freaking out. I'm not. Why would I freak out?" Then, quickly grabbing Piper's bare shoulders due to her ruined dress, he barked, "Tell me why I should be freaking out, Piper!"

"Oh...kay, you are definitely freaking out right now," she drew out, her hands lightly shaking off his death grip on her shoulders. She dusted some dirt off of his own chest, but as he was about to ask her why would she do that if his entire body was caked with filth, he realized she was only doing it because she was nervous. But probably not the type of nervous as he was in being in a completely new different circumstance, but as if she was...afraid of telling him something. He scrutinized her, hoping she would finally tell the truth as to what was behind this.

Quietly, he spoke, as to not startle her, "Tell me, Piper, how did we fall?"

He only got silence as she stared shamefully to the ground at her bare feet, refusing to meet her gaze with his. She shook off his hands once again before walking towards one of the trees, touching the bark as if she was nostalgic over it. "...What are you doing?" he asked, completely boggled by this point. She was acting so strange...more strange than she ever really was. And right then, Jason had an epiphany. What if...she was an elite criminal? What if she came from a separate kingdom and was sent to eliminate him? It only made sense, after all. He was the heir to the throne. If he wasn't the king, no one could be. Well, they could, but it would take a while for his kingdom to recover after his tragic death, leaving the kingdom into a breakout. That would've been the perfect time to -

As rapid as a snake, Piper snapped her arm behind one of the stray branches and pulled a small rectangular, black object and faced towards him with it. Immediately taking it for a weapon, he tensed before sprinting the few steps that separated them and knocked the object clean from her hands. "Hey! What was that for?!" Piper shrieked, and he instantly winced. She was definitely loud when she wanted to be, but he decided to ignore it considering she was clearly going to kill him with it.

"I knew it!" he started out, his words tracing with venom as he went on. "You were sent out to get me, weren't you? Was it that spineless lizard Octavian? Did he set you up to this?" He clenched his jaw in anger, just thinking of the smug look that bastard of a cousin must have had on if he would be seeing this right now. "The moment we get back to the castle, my father will hear about this!"

She surprised him with a confused look and a snort. "Sure, Draco Malfoy, whatever."

"Who - ? That's not the point," Jason shifted before he got thrown off track with her weird words. He really must not get distracted right now with her strange words...not when Reyna and everyone else must be worried where he was by now. Reyna...he wondered how her reaction must be once she realized he was missing. _I'll be back in a few minutes,_ he had said. Definitely not just a few. "The point is that you have led me on purpose to a completely strange place, and I don't know _how_ you managed to make the earth slip away beneath us, but just letting you know - "

"It's called a _phone_ , Prince Jason."

The term of royal endearment startled him right then, but that didn't stop him from backtracking and hearing her words closely. "A what?" he asked, all thoughts about watching her pain as she suffered mercilessly in the cages of the dungeons stripped from his mind then. "What the...what is a _phone_?"

He stared, puzzled, as she walked towards where the rectangular object he had thrown in the lush vegetation below and picked it up to show it to him. "Great," she seemed to be speaking to herself, "you've gotten fingerprints all over the screen..." Jason didn't like being ignored. Especially when all he was now was confused. Needless to say, he smacked the 'phone', as she had blatantly called it defensively, clean from his hands once again. She snapped her head up again to look him in the eye. "Seriously? What exactly is your problem?"

He pointed a filthy finger at her, just stopping his fingernail from poking her in the nose as he did so. " _You_. You are my problem. But since you've already made that clear enough, what is a _phone_?"

Piper raised an eyebrow at him before sighing. After a few moments she answered quietly, "this...this phone is honestly the least of your worries right now."

Jason bent down and gripped the object that now had a long piercing crack along the slick side that wasn't there a moment ago. Judging by the look on her face, she was annoyed that it was cracked but she was trying to suppress it and move on to more important matters. Holding it in his hand tightly, he asked, "Well, what does it do?"

She stared at him for a while before shaking her head as if she couldn't believe him. "You...you shouldn't have followed me, sire. Really." He noted mentally that whenever she spoke words of royal endearment to him, she was either hiding something from him or was trying not to make him angry. In this case, he could somehow tell, she was doing both.

"Why not?" When she didn't answer at first, he held the 'phone' more tightly in his hands before raising it again. "If you don't tell me, I'll - "

She must have realized what he was going to threaten her with because she raised her arms up in surrender, those colorful eyes of hers widening in shock. "Okay, okay, fine! Just..." she reached over hesitantly, holding it in her hands as if it was her baby. "Just don't throw it again. You have no idea how much these things cost." He nodded smugly whilst she rolled her eyes, annoyed. He really did like making her irritated. Then, suddenly, her expression changed into one of guilt. "This...isn't exactly the same place where we were...er, a few moments ago."

So he was right; they really hadn't slept through the night. _But how was any other alternative possible?_ Shrugging, knowing that though this information was confusing, they were finally getting somewhere so he wasn't going to interrupt. "Go on."

She shifted her weight to her other foot, biting her full lip nervously. "Well...as I was saying, the earth fell beneath us because we were falling through time...hence that it's now daytime instead of nighttime." That didn't make any sense either, but again, he wouldn't interrupt just yet. "And so...we're here...in a whole other...area. In another place, I guess I should say."

This time, he did cut in, "As in another country?"

"No..." she shook her head slowly as if she was announcing a death statement upon him. He had a very ugly feeling about this.

"As in _what_ , Piper?" He couldn't handle the suspense. It was killing him. He still liked to believe that she was a killer herself, but judging by the way she looked so guilty despite how much she was trying to hide it, he could tell she hadn't meant to bring him with her.

"As in...another dimension. Or in your medieval terms, I should say, _realm_."

"Like...you believe we traveled through time?"

"No..." her frown decreased instantly. "I mean...another realm. As in a...universally different... _realm_."

Jason paused. Really paused. As in hands freezing in the air type of pause. As in complete and utter shock and confusion type of pause. As in _disbelief_ pause. Naturally, he started laughing. Nervously chuckling - but it still counted as a laugh. Seeing as she looked utterly serious yet eagerly as if she expected him to believe her, he paused all over again. "...Erm...are you alright, Piper?"

She groaned loudly at his response. "I knew you wouldn't believe me..." Then she pressed a small thing that looked like a deformed button on the top of the 'phone' and the 'screen' burst with color. He jumped back, completely startled. He blinked as Piper watched in amusement at his weird struggle before he took a hesitant step forwards (he hadn't realized he walked away for a second) towards the strange object.

"Oh my..." he claimed, staring wide-eyed at the 'screen'. There was a picture there of Piper and another boy smiling with their arms wrapped around each other, with both of them making the goofy faces Piper had made to himself the day before. The picture only showed from the collarbone and up, so he couldn't really see their attire from where he watched from outside of the object, but they both looked relatively happy. "What is this sorcery...?" The boy, he noticed then, had extremely curly hair, his ears pointing in what he imagined an elf would look like, and he was sticking out his dark pink tongue. The top of the picture had strange bright white printing on it, but somehow he could read it perfectly fine though it wasn't in a language he thought he could understand. It didn't seem Latin to him. The bottom of the picture was similar. _Slide to unlock_ _,_ it said. He wondered what that meant.

"Slide what?" he asked, the shock of seeing something light up so brightly that his eyes burned for a second fading a little from his system. "I don't see anything to slide."

Piper chuckled lightheartedly. _What was she so amused about?_ "Okay, I'm going to do something right now. Promise not to freak out, alright?" He nodded hastily, not even bothering to roll his eyes at her reprimand because he was just so fascinated by the object. Then, she swiped her thumb across the 'screen' and immediately, the picture shifted, shrinking out as weird boxes zoomed to replace the previous picture, and this time, there was another boy in the background of the strange boxes. The boy had green eyes and dark hair his face covered in what Jason thought to be cake. The boy was frowning, but yet, all Jason could think of was, _How many boy friends does she have?_

Jason stared in shock, his jaw slacking to the ground. "Oh my God...oh my God, oh my God, oh my God..." he snapped his head up since he was crouched down to look at the object better to Piper. "Is this some type of dark magic? I...I don't understand." He straightened himself, feelings of being alone, confusion, shock, anger, all filling that one empty void he had just moments ago as Piper pressed the deformed button again and the 'screen' turned black again. "Are you some type of witch? Is this where you're hiding the rest of your kind? Those two boys...are they your minions? Or are they your masters?" Then, coming to a shocking realization - though even in his heart he knew it couldn't be true. Piper and Reyna seemed way too close for that to happen - he exclaimed blatantly, "You...oh my God, you played me! You played Reyna too, I bet! This is it, isn't it?! You're fooling us, the whole kingdom! I...I - "

" - JASON! SHUT UP."

He just realized he had been pacing again, his rambling session confusing even him. He really wanted to be comforted as much as his ego wouldn't let him admit it. He needed something to anchor him and tell him this was not happening. He just...he didn't understand. Piper walked up to where he stood, and she snatched his fingers away from where they were gripped on the sides of his temple. "Do you believe me now?"

Jason shook his head - three time, four, five even. He really needed to think about this. Piper barely even gave him real proof yet to her absurd theory that they were in a different realm. It sounded so meaningless...so unintelligent for him to believe so quickly. Yet, how in Merlin's poop did he somehow start believing her? Nevertheless, he shook his head again. "No, I don't. And I highly doubt anything else you say or show me will make me believe so."

She raised a thin brown eyebrow. "Wanna bet, Your-soon-to-be Highness?" Piper then pointed to the dirt below them. "You see those patterns? Remember how they glowed just moments before we hit the ground, before we entered this realm?" He remembered alright. How could he not? The very memory of the glowing print - similar to the 'screen''s glowing but about ten times more vibrant and blinding - was still imprinted beneath his eyelids, making it hard for him to forget. As he looked down, he realized she was right. The prints were still there, but now there was a difference: it lacked the vibrant glow. Now it looked as if a three-year-old had drew the patterns.

 _But what if it isn't a pattern?_ He stepped back in a daze until he could look at the design better and not as if he was straightly above it. From in front of him, Piper smirked sadly as if she knew what it was he found out.

 _2015_

That was what the engraving in the dirt said. Immediately, he knew it was a number. How he knew it was a number, he didn't know. How he knew the numeral was _called_ a 'number' he didn't know. He was so used to Roman numerals that everything now confused him. It was like staring at the 'phone''s 'screen' and how the words didn't look like a language he knew, but somehow he understood. Now...now he understood why Piper spoke strange around him. It was as if her language verbally was shifted strainingly from Latin into...whatever Merlin's poop this was.

Okay...but this could also explain that Piper could be lying to him and that they were in another country instead of her absurd theory. _But how come I know this language? And how come I'm speaking it with Piper right now?_

His eyes grew wide as he came to a scary conclusion: _How come I can't remember a single word or numeral in Latin?_

Gratefully yet somehow ungratefully, Piper answered his unspoken questions as if she knew exactly how he felt. And maybe she had, he thought as he looked at her amused yet sad face. Maybe she felt bad for him because she remembered how she felt when she...wait, she'd been here before?! But again, that was clearly obvious judging how she knew so much information and brought him here in the first place.

"It's because of the shifting to a new realm," she said, her voice heavy. "You can't remember another language while in another realm because it's not your language anymore. At least, not the one you were raised in."

He blinked at her cautiously. "But how come you knew Latin even when you were in - " then he quickly clarified, "and I'm not saying this because I actually believe you, no not at all, but if it were true - ...another realm?"

"Because I studied Latin in school, so I know it pretty fluently. But...my Latin is more modern than your Latin. That's why..."

"...Why you speak so strange to me. Why I can hardly understand you half of the time," he spoke with a sense of finality; as if he just discovered the world's darkest secret. "I hope you know I still don't believe you."

"How in the holy hell do you not - ?!" Piper cut off her exclamation with another loud groan. She muttered, "Fine...I guess this is all new to you so I'll be patient...I suppose I'm going to have to show you everything."

He wasn't quite sure what she meant by _everything_ since he was still in the middle of freaking out. Yes, he was freaking out. Not as if he would tell Piper anytime soon though he figured she already knew considering she kept sending him pitiful glances every now and then. But he was freaking out.

He heard her mumble vaguely, "Not as if you actually would have had a choice. You're going to be here for quite a while..." At those completely dreadful words, Jason snatched his arm away from her, startled because he really, very much did _not_ want to be there for any longer than he had to be.

"No," he said firmly. "I want to go home. _Now_." He needed to go home. Very badly. He never thought he would ever want to see his father so badly at this point. That's precisely how desperate he was now. The kingdom, Reyna, even Octavian he would have killed for to see. Alright, maybe not have _killed_ for. But Reyna...he could only wonder what impossible thoughts must have been running through her mind over there. He had to see her. She was the only thing that was normal in his life, and that was completely official especially now that Piper was in it.

Speaking of the witch, she threw up her hands in frustration at his reply. "Can't you see I'm trying to get you there?"

She was being sincere. He knew because of the way her eyebrows furrowed in concern, the way her lips tilted downwards slightly as if she wasn't proud of herself for putting him through this. How he knew all of this about her without actually knowing her was beyond him. But then again, he was beyond clueless at this point.

So he followed, figuring he didn't have much to lose in the first place.

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 **A/N: More answered or more questions? I want to know what y'all think. There wasn't any Jasper in here, but I'm trying to take things slow for now. Trying. Judging by my sloppy moods, who knows what will happen between the two of them.**

 **The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update. Thanks again for getting this far and reading through the chapter!**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


	5. Interlude Part 1

**A/N: A little bit late, and for that I apologize. But I had my head spinning with ideas for this story, and I hope it will be worthwhile. Unedited.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters at all, nor do I own the song New Perspective by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~Can we fast-forward 'til you go down on me?~_

* * *

By the time Piper claimed they had finally reached their 'almost-destination-until-we-reach-our-destination', Jason felt the uttermost exhaustion overtake him heavily, making him suddenly want to take a seat down. Even so, he found himself sinking in disappointment when he heard her repeat the word 'destination' many times when he had a feeling it didn't mean the same as what he had hoped it meant. As they had walked farther and farther away from the area in the forest where they had been, he couldn't help but realize just how stranded he really felt.

Piper wasn't really helping matters either. She seemed to be muttering to herself repeatedly about things he didn't understand. Shrugging it off, he found himself thinking about what she had said before: _a whole different realm_. Could it really be possible?

 _Of course it couldn't,_ he thought dismissively. He can't be that mental, surely, he knew he had hit his head through the landing, but he didn't think it could cause that much damage. Or maybe he was really mental. After all, he couldn't even remember anything in Latin anymore. Obliterate that, he knew a whole different language now! How could that even be –

From ahead of him, Piper abruptly stopped in a halt, causing him to stumble a little against her, making her head snap to him irritably. He only glared at her, but before he could retort something grudgingly rude, he looked up with an absolute start.

Looking back on it, he remembered his reaction when he saw Piper pull out the 'phone' for him and show the magic of the ever-changing 'screen'. He had been surprised, no doubt, and a little shocked that such a thing existed in his world. But _this_ , this newly exposed sight he was currently gaping at, in all the areas and kingdom he could name from the top of his head, was _not_ in any area or kingdom he knew of.

He knew Piper was watching him in the corner of her eye, her lips quirking up in that mischievous smirk of hers that caused nothing but trouble in his thoughts, pleading silently for his reaction in amusement. He wanted nothing more than to growl at her for being the absurd human that she was and claim that her whole theory of hers was nothing more than unintelligent for her to even suggest and laugh in her up-coming misery he would prevail upon her – but that was by farthest from the case.

What he saw had to be magic. It had to be. It completely startled his mind in the most confusing way, and he heard himself take a sharp intake of breath and Piper's bursting of laughter before absorbing what sorcery was before him. There were gray pathways that somehow looked like there were stars compacted together to form it, glittering menacingly from below him. White and yellow lines scattered across the pathways; white in slight dashes and yellow in borders. And if _that_ wasn't fascinating enough, there were...moving steel animals on the pathway?

He jumped in the air for what he felt like a hundred mouse tails and gasped once again. "Are those _humans_ in those... _things_?!" he shrieked as the girl beside him doubled over, gasping in her own hysterical tears of joy, clutching her stomach in vain. He looked at her morphing face in confusion for a second before he turned back to the most absurdest sight he had ever seen by far. As he took a closer look at the humans, he felt a sudden urge to jump on one of the steel animals smash one of the sucked-in paws and rescue the people inside of it. The poor people...they must have been possessed! They looked so calm in those things.

As if they _weren't_ gobbled by a bunch of menacing looking animals. The eyes of those things...they lit up punishingly bright, much similar to the 'phone''s light but a little more enhancing. The eyelids of the animals were narrowed as if they were searching for their next stalk in their meal. Not to mention the speed they were going in. He could only take quick glimpses of the things before they swiftly rushed past them, leaving him and Piper's hair and clothing swishing loosely against them.

Turning to Piper once again, he studied her calming-down face, but once she noticed his angered expression she burst out with another loud cackle and continued her previous routine of laughing at him. "What's wrong with you?" he exclaimed profusely. "We need to help them in those humans' time of downfall! Clearly that is now! Just look – look how loud that baby is crying!" Jason gestured to one of the animals that crawled on its – circle? – paws and padded smoothly to the side of pathway. Inside there was indeed a baby crying in which he had used to argue his point.

From beside him, Piper rolled her eyes and crossed her arms stubbornly across her chest. "That baby is crying because that other kid – probably his brother – is poking him on the belly." Looking at how long he was still staring at the bunch and how a woman, the mother perhaps, was starting to gaze back at him in confusion as to why he was staring at them in the first place, Piper smacked him with the back of her hand. "And stop staring at them like that. These people judge you know – it's New York, after all." He didn't know what that could possibly mean, but then again, that was the least of his problems.

The only thing that might have surprised him more than the steel animals in front of him was Piper's reaching down and grabbing her hand tightly with his. He gazed down at their intertwined hands thoughtfully, feeling a spark of electricity shoot up his arm hastily. Looking back up at her, he said bashfully, "Did...did you feel that too? That...spark?"

"Yeah," Piper replied, pursing her lips. "It's called static electricity, Prince Jason. Please bear with me. And those," she pointed to the menacing steel animals, "are called _cars_. They are not harmful in anyway. In fact, the only thing that controls just how harmful they can turn out to be, are the humans inside of it. They run mostly on roads, which is what this pathway is, and can be used day or night. It's a type of machine." She looked at his gaping mouth, and she held out a hand in front of her, stopping him from speaking. "And before you ask me what _that_ is, it's a type of thing...for an example, you know how a well works? How you operate the rope and the bucket to slowly axle its way down to gather the water then return to the surface to drink."

He was appalled. Truly appalled and offended. "Yes, I know how a _well_ works. There are numerous of them all around the kingdom and others."

If she noticed how annoyed he was, she didn't voice it out loud as she continued. "Yeah, well, machines are like that, similarly. Except...not so similarly. _Those_ ," she pointed to the steel animals – er, _cars_ – again, "are much more complex."

He raised an eyebrow at her in thought. "So...they are man-made?"

"Precisely," she said with a heart-stopping grin, dimples creasing her cheeks making her almost look innocent in his eyes. Then she pointed to something else, specifically in the _sky_ , and he felt himself getting light-headed all over again. He wondered vaguely if he were to pass out if Piper would catch him. He had, after all, before they came...here. It was by instinct, but he still had a feeling that even if it wasn't, he still would have caught her anyway. That shook him from his thoughts suddenly, and Reyna's face flashed against his eyelids in a piercing picture, and he mentally groaned in guilt. _Seriously not the time._

Relating to the point again, in the sky to which Piper was point at, was a bird. _Not exactly..._ he squinted his eyes as he took a closer look at the sight. "That...that can't possibly be a...what's the word? Ma...margin, can it?"

Piper smirked. "This realm has come a long way, you know. Everything seriously is not how it seems at all. But to answer your question, yes, it is a _machine_ , margins are completely different, and yes, that too is man-made. It's called an _airplane_ , by the way, _plane_ for short. They look very heavy, and they are, but it's built specifically for the air, so there's no chance of it collapsing to the ground...most of the time. "

He studied the 'airplane' briefly, the shock slowly seeping away before staring at another sight, beyond the 'cars'. "Those are bizarre castles, I must say," he noted loudly, frowning. This was truly beyond him, he thought. He didn't know how on earth he got to a place like this, and he was now hell-bent on getting out. Piper, however, seemed comfortable here, but that wouldn't stop him. He would either go out of this place with her or without her, no matter what.

She followed his line of sight before sighing tiredly. "Those aren't castles. They're more like towers, I should say, but not really. They're called _skyscrapers_. And those smaller ones by the side are just _buildings_. A lot – and I mean, a _lot –_ are found here in New York."

"Do all of these...'cars' and...uh, 'planes' and, er, sky buildings not seem to faze the people here in the kingdom of New York?" he asked hesitantly, but he wished he hadn't when he noticed Piper snorting chuckles at everything he seemed to say. _Oh, so now_ I _sound strange._

"Sky _scrapers_ , and yes, as I said, these things are common in New York – it's not a kingdom, by the way, don't go going around this place and saying that because it's not exactly modern – and in this realm," she explained, biting her lip in amusement, clearly trying not to laugh at him. He mentally killed her in his mind. She really got on his nerves sometimes. "And before I continue explaining this new world to you..." she trailed off as she stared at the people across the road that were currently staring at them strangely. They were probably judging them, considering the ripped clothes they were wearing, he thought. He wanted to shout at them and tell them that he was the heir to the _throne_ and they should be more considerate and maybe even _help_ them – but he had a hinting suspicion that they wouldn't care and would look at him even more absurdly.

"We should clean ourselves up a bit?" he asked, staring at her whilst he smirked. He knew she cared more than he did because she actually clearly had an attachment to this place, whereas he would do anything to get out of it. He knew that if the people ahead of him judged him, so be it, because he was never risking coming back there once he got out. But looking at Piper...he wasn't so sure what she thought. "Is there a market where we can?"

Piper frowned then shrugged, making her tattered dress lift a little and he had to look up at her face again, his cheeks tinting pink yet he had no idea why. Getting rid of those thoughts, he raised a brow as she replied. "Walmart will have to do, I guess. It's the cheapest option and it's pretty near."

Jason grinned. "Cheap is good. At least considering we have no money."

Piper laughed, but she pulled out something from her dress and he almost did a double-take – the dress had _pockets_? Even the fashion was completely different than what he was used to, he noticed that as he watched a few kids walk by, the men had shirts that had sleeves that were cut above the elbow and the women with shorts so short that he got them confused with undergarments. The whole area was making him uncomfortable and he felt overdressed, despite his outfit was ruined. "I actually do have money, thankfully. No need to worry."

They walked their way to whatever market Piper had been talking about quickly, and albeit he was a little surprised with the 'building' along with the lighting (he was too much used to lanterns and candles that 'fluorescent bulbs', as Piper called it, was a bit too strange for him), but he quickly got used to it. They had a couple of stares and even glares being sent their ways by their clothing, and Jason felt like shrinking below the earth somewhere far, far away from their eyesight – more presumably, back home from where he was from.

It was a strange market, he thought. People had huge carts that carried loads at a time – things that included paper in all sorts of form; in rolls and such. He saw some carts that carried fruit and vegetables that he never saw in his entire eighteen years of living. As they walked row to row, he even saw people with some 'phone''s, similar to the kind that Piper had when he didn't crack it, and a whole section where there was all 'technology' as Piper had explained to him. Needless to say, whatever words that swished through Piper's mouth, he didn't understand. At all. And he didn't think he would.

This world was much more, Jason thought, and he couldn't find himself ever getting used to a place like this. He missed the kingdom's simplicity and elegance, unlike this world's complexity and solemnity. He felt dull all of a sudden.

As they finally reached the small clothing section, he was astounded by the clothes there. It was very similar to the attire he saw on the kids outside. From beside him, Piper sighed. "You see anything you like?"

Jason frowned. He didn't know what he 'liked'. He wasn't from that area so it was understandable that he was confused. And the last thing he knew was the type of clothing he should get. "What...do normal people my age wear?"

She shrugged again. "Just shirts like these." She pointed to a whole shelf of shirts of different colors for him – some with deep cuts on the neckline and some round. She grabbed a purple and blue shirt.

"How did you know I liked these colors?" he asked absentmindedly, gratefully taking the clothes from her. He hooked them across his arms when he finally turned to her, noticing her thoughtful expression on her face.

"I guess," she started, walking with him to the pants section, him staring in wonderment at the strange designs this 'Walmart' had, "because you wore that purple robe that other night when we...er, met. It looked good on you, I suppose. Also blue makes your eyes pop." He was about to make a comment about how annoyingly observant she was when she took one of the blue rough pants and walked close enough to him that he could smell her twig-leaved hair. _How in this world and the previous does it still smell good?_

"What...Piper, what are you doing?" She was dangerously close to him. He had a feeling that all he had to do was take one step forward and they'd be flush against each other. He gulped down as Reyna's innocent face flashed once again across his mind, and he took one hesitant step backwards.

"Relax, sire," she spoke softly, her hands stretching the pants across his waist loosely. "I'm just checking your pant size." She cocked her head to the side, observing her doing, before clucking her tongue disapprovingly. "You might be here for a while, so I should probably get you some more clothes...I'm going to have to tell Leo if you can borrow some..." she trailed off as she finally found his pant size for him before finally backing up to give him space. A good thing too because Jason's throat started to get a little scratchy from awkwardly coughing a lot from their proximity.

"What do you mean I'm going to be here for a while?" he suddenly asked, his voice raising a little that a few people turned and stared at the people wearing clothes that only people with no homes should be wearing and had been shouting. Piper gestured to quiet down, though that was the farthest from his mind right then. He wanted answers and he would surely get them if he had anything to do with it. "No, Piper, tell me what you mean."

Piper let out a loose breath before grabbing a forest green shirt of her own and some other pants, considerably thinner and more fitting than his. "Okay, I'll tell you, but be quiet, alright? Look, I'm just saying," she sounded nervous as she spoke, he noted, "that when you came to ask me what I was doing the moment before we were zapped here, I was a little sidetracked with your presence that I...I forgot to...bring my ring."

Jason blinked. "Your...ring." He vaguely remembered her wearing a bronze ring that she always nervously twisted at balls that he saw her in, and he frowned. "Why do you need that ring?"

She wiggled her fingers against each other sheepishly, biting her lip as she explained hastily to him their situation. "It's...the main reason of how we got here in the first place. I used that ring to draw the patterns – or what is actually the number 2015, which is what year we are in right now, after Christ – and it can only be done on the full moon. The whole process is very complicated and I don't think you'd understand it if I told you the mechanics behind it."

There was that word again he now learned to hate so much. _Machines._ He was guessing she was referring to that. He was still confused as to half of the things she said, but only paid attention to the important things she discussed. "A full moon? What are we, werewolves?"

She rolled her eyes; the first expression of irritation she made besides nervousness so far in a while. "No, you – never mind. I don't know why exactly it is only on a full moon, but the important thing is is that we _need_ the ring. And I was going to grab it, I really was, but then I tripped, and – that's how we got here. And if you hadn't grabbed on to me before the light had struck, you wouldn't have been here."

"That means..." he said, absorbing the facts Piper had given him and taking it into thought. When he did, his stomach turned, giving him the familiar feeling of wanting to throw up, and his throat got scratchy again but this time for a completely different reason. "We're stuck here. For forever."

"Well, don't be so pessimistic," she defended, but even _she_ looked scared for him. He felt like he was going to collapse right there. Never in his life had he been so terrified of the outcomes. Not even when he was being prepared to be king. Piper looked at him, raising an eyebrow before frowning at him. "So I'm taking you finally believe me?"

He scoffed sadly. "Do I really have a choice?" He was insane, mentally ill for even considering Piper's theory in the first place. But she was the one who brought them there in the first place so he had to go along with it. How else was he going to get back to Reyna and the kingdom that awaited him?

Piper shook her head, finally speaking after a pregnant pause. "I'm afraid not. But...if we do find our way back – " he noted that she looked very turned down and reluctant about that, " – there won't be a time difference from when we left. So when we get back..."

"Everything will be exactly the same," Jason finished, sighing sadly. Honestly, nothing surprised him anymore, he thought. But he would get home, that's why he wasn't freaking out about this. There had to be _some_ type of 'machine' there to help him; and he would find it. "At least if...when I get back no one will suspect anything."

She chuckled nervously. "There's that, I suppose. You'll be back with your Reyna and everything will be fine once again. Trust me, there are other ways to get out, I've heard of them at least, but I don't know of them. Normally I don't leave that ring out of my sight, but...yeah."

He was pretty disappointed to say the least. And the uttermost not hopeful at all. But what else was a prince like him to do? He had to go along with it. At least he had Piper to bear it with him...but she had actually _wanted_ to be here in the first place. He didn't know why that was, but he was sure to ask her for that information later since he was still absorbing the first part of what Piper said.

After a little while they walked to wear the merchants were to pay for their clothes, and immediately, they were met with the judging glare of the woman behind the table. Piper had mentioned something about a 'cash register' and a 'cashier', but he hadn't been paying much attention to her in a while. Mostly because he felt he was a little angry at her, though he didn't really have a reason to be. _He_ had been the one to snoop. He brought this upon himself.

But still. He wouldn't have been there if it weren't for her.

"Halloween isn't until October, you know," the 'cashier' had said, studying them whilst doing some strange thing with the tag on the clothes that created a red _beep_ that Jason somehow found fascinating all over again. _I will never get used to this._ "It's the beginning of June."

Before Jason could retort something crude about the way _she_ was dressing, Piper beat him to it probably for the best. "We know. Our son had his first birthday today, and we decided to celebrate," she lied smoothly, pulling out some paper money with different faces on each one. Though he would be the first one to say that the paper money was the last thing he was thinking at that moment.

Their _son_? Had she gone mentally ill? His eyes widened as he fiddled with his hands beneath the table nervously, watching the 'cashier''s reaction to all of this. He couldn't imagine him and Piper having a _kid_. He or she would probably be very loud and obnoxious, clearly getting its mother's traits. _Why am I thinking this?_

The 'cashier', however, looked beyond baffled and stunned. Her hands had stopped moving fluidly from shirt to shirt and glanced up to look at them. Quickly, Jason pulled on a poker face. The last thing he wanted was someone from this realm to convict him of a liar. He didn't want to leave this world with bad blood, no matter how unintelligent the lie was.

The 'cashier' gulped before turning back to Piper and taking her money to pay for the clothes. He sneaked a glance at Piper and noticed she was smirking, and soon, he followed. Finally, the woman had shut her mouth, and rightfully so. But, too soon, the woman offered nervously, "You can change in the bathroom if you'd like. Since, you know...you paid for it. And clean up a bit."

Piper nodded gratefully, sending another beam in the woman's way. The woman nodded back hastily before turning away and muttering something about 'teenage pregnancies' and 'finally a boy that's willing to stay', and they walked off. They changed quickly, him stunned a little by the strange scenery but deciding not to make a big deal of it, and he was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable the clothes felt. He had really misjudged them when he saw them on the people outside from before. They weren't itchy and overbearing like his normal gowns and robes were. He felt...strangely casual.

Looking at his tired expression in the mirror, he washed off the grime and dirt from anywhere he could reach, very confused by the way the water came out of a little whole above the upside-down dome, and it took him around ten minutes to figure out how to work it and shut it off.

After another three minutes of being stunned by the weird drying towels and how they came out of a black box attached to the wall, he walked out of the bathroom in a daze, Piper waiting there for him not quite so patient, but not so irritable either. Together, they walked out of the store, avoiding the prying 'cashier''s gaze as they went in silence.

Piper was the one who broke it, however, this time. "For the rest of the summer, you'll have to crash with my best friend Leo." She picked up on his worried face, and she filled in sheepishly, "Don't worry, he knows about what's going on. He's the only person I ever told about the whole realm-changing thing, so you won't have to hide anything. And he's nice and understanding and funny, so...I think if you just put an effort into this, then you'll get along."

He ignored the jab in which she had said if he put an effort into this while another question was brought into his mind. "When did you contact him? I thought you said there was no 'signal' or whatever that means."

"There wasn't. In the forest. But now we aren't," she answered, "I contacted him in the bathroom while we were changing."

He briefly remembered the two people he had seen on Piper's phone, and he remembered what each of them looked like. He hoped inwardly that Piper wouldn't be too harsh on him about who he had to stay with. He had to get through with the summer while finding a way out of here, or he wouldn't know what to do. He felt despair all of a sudden, as if what the situation he was in was now weighing down on him.

Piper looked at him from the corner of her eye before looking down as if she was thinking something. Eventually, she looked back up again at him, her expression almost mournful. "Look, I know you hate me for bringing you here, but I just want to let you know that it was by accident. Completely. But...if I'm going to help you to get out of here, then...we'll have to cooperate, alright? Try to limit the fights to only a couple an hour."

Jason appreciated her light humor at the end, though he couldn't find himself to laugh and admit it. Frowning numbly, he voiced out his agreement as they continued to walk in silence.


	6. Three Moons to Come In Hell

**A/N: Alright, so, I'm back with another update on this. Thanks to all those who are reading, ghostly following this, and such – but I also want your guys' opinion on this story. If you like it, want me to continue it, hate it, etc. Because I've been writing Jasper for a while now and I'm not entirely sure if I'm still in my element with it. So I need your opinion, as I said. It's not like I'm losing inspiration for the story and need ideas; I just want to know what y'all think of my writing this story. Thanks again for everything; I'm truly grateful for all those who gave me support.**

 **Not edited.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters at all, nor do I own the song _New Perspective_ by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~Stop there and let me correct it **  
**I wanna live a life from a new perspective~_

* * *

Leo's abode smelt like rat dung, Jason observed thoroughly as he scrunched his nose when he lifted one of the rags Leo owned to his nose. Coughing slightly, he dropped the – dare he say it – shirt on the carpeted floor in disgust.

He'd been in that hell-hole for three days now, the days going by ever-so slowly. It was the simplest of routines for him: wake up, stick some stick and gel in his mouth, wash his face with a circular bar, eat grains and milk from a bowl, sit around as Leo taught him the simplest things to have ever been taught around what he called an 'apartment', eat raw noodles (though Leo never called it raw – not when you put it in a 'microwave'; he was still trying to figure out what that was) in another bowl, sit around again in wonder and amazement at the things he never thought to have existed, Piper perhaps came around to check how he was doing ("Bored," he'd always say, then turning to glare at Leo's smug face, "And irritated."), eat the raw noodles again since Leo didn't seem to have much more supplies, then rigor his mouth once again with a stick and gel before going to sleep.

Leo lived in the apartment by himself since he was old enough to and shared the rent with a boy named Percy who, judging by the photographs, looked a lot like the other boy in Piper's phone, but he was off vacationing with his wife...er, _girlfriend_ – he was appalled that such a thing existed. In his world, there were no _girlfriends_ ; it was either wives, fiancees, or the lady-your-father-arranged-to-marry-with-you, but _girlfriends_ was a completely new concept that Jason didn't fully understand.

Nevertheless, his new routine for the staying period was simple – but definitely not fit for someone from where he had come from. In his life (he refused to believe that this realm would ever become his future), he would have constantly been up and running, going to war meetings and taking care of the kingdom's finest jewels – and if not that, then he would be spending his time with _Reyna_. His stomach churned at the thought of her.

He always complained internally about getting a break from his job as the future ruler of the kingdom, but never said anything of it because a king could never back out without getting the kingdom to slaughter his head off of its perch. But by break, he surely hadn't meant _this_.

He heard a chuckle from behind him, but he didn't care as much as he would've whenever someone he barely knew for three days popped around him – not that that happened often before he came here. But he just wasn't surprised anymore. Looking at all the 'machinery' (yes, he hadn't forgotten that ever ugly word) around that place, he didn't know what _could_. Not anymore.

"That one is my favorite. Haven't washed it in weeks." Leo smiled, cocking his brow, amused. Jason remembered when he had first seen the boy three days ago – he was surprised because it hadn't been that other boy on Piper's 'phone' because somehow he seemed more responsible, even though with that pie on his face, then irritated when he realized he had the same smirk he'd seen so many times on Piper's face, and he knew he was doomed immediately. From the past three days, he realized with absolute irritation that Leo and Piper were a match made in heaven – and he wanted to kill them both for being so darn similar. "Fine. I was kidding. Sort of. You really hate my clothing, don't you?"

"I wouldn't if they didn't smell like absolute defecation from the fattest cow –"

"Alright, I get it," he cut Jason off quickly, frowning a little when he noticed just how put off he really was. "If you don't want to wear that one, I can give you another. It's no big deal."

Jason glared at him. "I don't want another shirt. This one is fine." As if to prove a point, he clenched the fabric between his fingers tightly before staring at the shorter boy down.

Leo's jaw dropped before he swiftly shut it close. Shaking his head as he thought for a second, closing his eyes then opening it when he was done, he asked, "Then why are you looking at it like you want to burn it? Just..." he seemed to be struggling for the right words to say before he finished, "chill out, dude."

Trust Leo to claim his whole inquisitional problem of entering an entire different realm and life-style to the solution to just 'chill out'. "I've been here for three days too many, Valdez!" he finally snapped, the most emotion he made since three days ago. "I don't know anyone here, I'm confused about how to operate the nearest _bathroom_ , Piper barely confides to me information about how we got here or how she received the...the _witchery_ ," by this point, he was going hysterical, he knew, "to even enter such a place like this, no one from my world even has the slightest clue as to where I might be because it is _frozen_ there, I'm supposed to be _king_ soon, and you're asking me if I _approve of your clothing_."

Needless to say, there was a stark tension that followed between them, and despite his cold cruelty he endured in his training to become the rightful leader, he felt instantly bad. Not entirely terrible, because he'd always felt stiff around Leo – especially with the ragged blue rough pants he wore everyday and forced himself to wear and the shoes that were never buffed properly or at _all_ plus the short-sleeved shirts he wore with holes decorating it – but bad enough that he almost apologized for it.

Before he could mutter out a quick sorry for his actions, Leo cleared his throat, those brown eyes of his staring at him sadly. "You're right. I shouldn't have told you to calm down when you have no right to. It's just that...when Piper said she would be coming, I didn't...I wasn't expecting – "

"Her to drop off a visitor?" Jason cut in, staring at Leo in thought. When Leo just nodded to confirm that, he sighed. He probably knew that he should apologize for his ungrateful behavior that had been creating a riff between the two of them. He had been very aloof around the innocent boy when he knew that Piper – if anything – trusted this boy with his life. That should be enough for him, considering no one else he knew was there in this new world with him. But, of course, his pride meant everything to him and more, so he didn't say anything. Then, coming up with a bizarre thought even for him, "Do you...do you care for her?"

Leo nodded instantly. "Though, not in the way you're thinking." Leo shot him a knowing smirk, leaning against the closet door as if they hadn't had a spat just moments ago. It was strange – though mad Leo tended to get, he almost always never held a grudge. He was very easy-going. The knowing smirk, however, Jason had no idea where that came from, but he decided to ignore it when he started talking again. "I haven't slept with her – neither have any of her guy friends – or thought about doing that at all."

He narrowed his eyes at him. "What do you mean by... _slept_ together?"

"Cuddling and holding hands under the covers," Leo rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Sex, you dolt." Then, his eyes widened considerably. "Wait, do they know what 'sex' even _is_ in La La Land?"

"Yes, we know what sex is!" Jason snapped; he really couldn't believe he was having this conversation with a boy who probably didn't even know his last name. But then again, how else was he supposed to pass the time whilst he was waiting to leave; sit around and wait for the end to come like he had been doing for the past three days? "We don't call it in those crass terms you call it, however. We're much more poise than that. To the point, however, we don't make love until we're rightfully wed."

Leo's jaw dropped again and so did his own 'phone' – it still boggled his mind how enhanced everything here truly was. "Wait...you're telling me you're a _virgin_? At eighteen?"

Jason scowled immediately. "How do you know I'm not to be wed? For your information, I'm happily engaged to a beautiful woman."

Leo rolled his eyes. "That's no excuse," he muttered, and before Jason could snap a retort, he continued, "Look, if it makes you feel any better, Piper's a virgin too. Or, at least, from what she's told me. Who knows, she may be screwing someone right now."

"Why would that make me feel better – not that I'm distraught in the first place," he pointed out, confused, though inside, he was trying to imagine kids nowadays hopping around from body to body as if they were deranged rabbits looking for carrots and shivered. What had this new world become?

Leo narrowed his eyes at him once again, pursing his lips. "Just thought it would," he mumbled, his gaze so heated that Jason thought he might burn on the spot right then and there. Then, Leo shrugged as if to shake off his thoughts before crossing his arms on his chest curiously. "So...tell me about your girl. What's her name?"

Jason's eyes narrowed into slits, suddenly suspicious. "Why do you care to know?"

In reply, Leo rolled his eyes again. "I was just trying to think of something to say. Do you want us to spend the rest of our time together in silence and boredom?" When Jason said nothing to oppose that offer because, after all, he saw Leo's point, he said, "That's what I thought. Now, answer the question or not, I really don't care."

Jason paused and considered his options: he could either blab about Reyna, therefore proving her existence to a complete stranger, or he could walk back to the bathroom, permanently shutting his new 'roommate' from his life forever whilst he was there with him. Sighing, "Her name is Reyna, but you may only call her as 'Princess Reyna', only," Leo rolled his eyes at him. "Well, she's beautiful, like I said. She has black hair, nearly to black eyes – "

"She sounds like a demon," Leo snickered but quickly stopped when he realized the heat of Jason's glare sent his way. "A...pretty demon? Never mind, forget what I said and continue. If you want."

He was inwardly pleased at his lack of comfort as he relaxed a little. Honestly, how could he be seriously intimidated by this person? "She's caring and strict, and we work well together. The kingdom could use rulers like us."

Leo nodded, seemingly deep in thought. Then, acting as if he even cared in the first place about his love life, he asked, "On a scale of me to you, how much alike are you?"

Jason raised an eyebrow at him. "What? Trying to 'sleep' with my fiancee, Valdez?" Leo's eyes widened, probably expecting Jason to throw another tantrum at him, but Jason just shrugged, amused again at his discomfort. "She's...we're pretty alike, I suppose."

"Do you love her?" The question had come so sudden at him, that Jason took a hesitant step back from where he was standing. Leo noticed this change and added quickly, "Not my place to say it, of course, but again, if you'd like to, I'm listening." It was the first time that Jason actually had a slight twinge of respect for the boy. He offered something not a lot of people did, not even in his world except for a very few – his companionship, though for a little while.

"I'm to be wed with her, aren't I?" Jason pointed out, raising an eyebrow at the boy. For the past three days since he'd stayed there, no matter what conversations they had, Leo would always play out his thoughts in what he thought to be amusing in what Jason thought to be annoying because they were nothing but predictable jokes. Now, Jason thought, Leo had the upper-hand when it came to predictability.

"It's not the same," Leo shrugged, not even caring anymore if he was going too far with his words as to how it would affect Jason. "I could marry any girl that I was super close to, as you say you are with your girl, such as...Piper, for example. We work well together too – we're damn similar to the peak of similarity, and we just...match. But I do love her, after all – but even through all that, we don't have enough differences to work out. It's like dating...uh, _courting_...yourself – it's fun at first, but then you get bored of it because there's nothing that fascinates you about the person anymore."

Jason blinked at Leo's strange revelation. All this time, he always took him as the type for short-quick words – nothing as...almost mature as this. "I take it you court yourself often, then?"

Leo chuckled which startled him for a second; he didn't think he was amusing enough for someone like Leo to laugh from. "Only on Thursdays, man."

Jason didn't get that joke to its fullest extent, but nevertheless, couldn't help letting out a snort of amusement. "So do you have a lady in mind? For yourself, of course."

Leo frowned. "Nope. I'm sorta the bachelor type. But, hey, your girl sounds pretty cool."

Jason felt his lips twitch but stopped it before he could smile at him. Smiling was almost a sign of weakness, especially since Leo was a stranger to him. Even if they were joking around right then. Why were they joking around again? "I thought we had too many similarities."

The boy shrugged, the baggy shirt that was cut from his shoulders barely lifting as he did so. "You're the best to judge about what you feel for her or not." There was silence that followed after that, but not entirely uncomfortable, Jason realized with a jolt. Then, Leo ruined it by the way his eyes lit up like the little kid he was despite the fact they were around the same age and saying, "She must be pretty hot if you want to spend the rest of your life with her."

Jason sent him a blank stare. "One day you'll see that a girl doesn't need to have broad hips in order to be in love with her."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "So you admit that you're – "

As if on cue sent from the very God, the doorbell rang, signaling Piper's arrival for the day, saving Jason from answering that question. It wasn't as if he was scared of answering it anyway, he just was uncomfortable of discussing his feelings with Leo of all people before he even could –

A loud knock followed after a few short moments along with a feminine, "I know you two are in there!" Jason rolled his eyes and was amused to see that Leo had done the same. At least they shared their irritation with Piper though they probably had different opinions about the matter.

"Coming!" Leo shouted, causing Jason to wince at the din before following him as he marched towards the door down the hallway and swung it open. Piper stood there, her attire still strange from what Jason was used to. Normally, he would see her in ballgowns or regular dresses or that wrecked dress that she had worn when they first appeared in that realm. But, this time, he was still getting adjusted to see, she was wearing a t-shirt and a new vocabulary word he had learned recently: 'shorts' (which, he thought regrettably, brought a lot of attention to her legs – not that he paid much attention to them in the first place).

She wore some type of weird sandal that he didn't think he saw back in his realm that often, though he did remember vaguely Leo saying 'flop-flip' or 'flip-flop', not that he knew of any difference, in one of his many lessons on the new world. "Hey, Jason," she beamed at him as she walked through, immediately marching over to the big white box in the kitchen and opening, bringing out a water bottle.

Pursing his lips, he watched her as he snapped, "My name shall still and forever will be from the choices 'Prince Jason' or 'the heir to the throne' or 'sire' or 'to-be Almighty ruler of the – "

"Right, sorry," Piper interrupted, twisting the top part of the bottle and bringing the opening to her lips and downing half of it in one slurp. "I forgot your head's bigger than your yet non-existent crown, even though no one in this world even knows probably the first letter of your first name," she countered with an irritable smirk before adding reluctantly, "sire."

Jason slouched against the frame to the kitchen as Leo watched a few arms-lengths away from them. Jason glared at her. "I suppose it's better than calling me that one term from yesterday I don't recall the name of."

At this, Leo's eyes brightened as he too remembered exactly. "Oh, yeah." The boy turned to Piper, smirking, "You called him a 'fuck tard'."

Piper snickered, almost snorting out her water through her nose and he found himself wishing she almost had. If anything to wipe that hideous smug look on her face. "It's not much of an insult," she started, looking over at him, "but it's probably your first of many to come."

Jason frowned innocently, like a little kid who was just beginning to learn the simplest of new words. "What does it even mean? A 'fuck tard'?"

Everyone became quiet. Then, Leo claimed, "I don't really know. I guess it's just a harsher way of calling someone a retard," he looked at Jason's blank expression at this before explaining hastily, "a retard is basically someone who went mentally ill."

Jason smiled. "Someone like Piper."

"Ha ha," Piper said the words monotonously with no expression to show her annoyance. "Your constantly flowing wit never fails to amaze me."

Leo rolled his eyes. He continued explaining the ever condescending theory of the 'fuck tard', even though Jason lost interest by then. "But some other times, 'tard', which is what Piper so innocently called you, is a long piece of crap, er, poop. You know, defecation. _Yes_ , I know big words, stop looking at me like that Piper."

"Then what does 'fuck' mean?" Jason asked, confused. They'd explained what tard was in many different ways but no one bothered with the first half of the insult. And, judging, by their faces, it was clear why they hadn't. They were clearly shocked that he didn't know the 'simple' word, as if he hadn't just come from an alternate universe. He shook his head bemusedly.

Leo was the first to snap out of it, rolling his eyes. "Goddamn, you've got so much to learn," he muttered.

No one answered his question. They just left him at that. Piper, however, did change the subject after a while. " _Anyways_. I came here, specifically, not just to help you out with learning some more words in the English dictionary, but also to tell you some news." Jason, curious, gestured for her to continue, which she did. "It's..." he noted she looked rather hesitant about the subject, and he figured out why. "About getting out of here."

This made all the teasing and the joking atmosphere escape out of the room in no time. Jason cleared his throat. "Well. Explain, then."

Piper shot him a glare before her expression softened, as if she just remembered what she had to say. Even Leo had shut his mouth in eager to hear the news. "Well, you know how the ring I lost in the other realm got us here in the first place?"

Jason frowned. "I'm painfully, constantly reminded from you and from the occurring nightmares I get at night, yes."

She gulped. "Well, I did tell you that there's another way to get out of here, didn't I?" At his blank face, Piper sighed. "It's...my grandfather. He's the other way. He's the one who taught me how to even come here in the first place. It's something to do with traveling between time in some Cherokee myth he was obsessed with – the Cherokees are a tribe my dad originated from, Jason – and instead of following it spiritually, he made it into a complete physical concept. Don't look at me like that – I thought he was blasphemous for telling me such a thing too, until I saw it physically and experienced it. In fact, Reyna was the first one I had ever met in your realm. The ring was something my grandfather created."

Jason absorbed all of that in before scoffing. It felt like there were holes in Piper's explanation, though he couldn't see how that was possible. "How did your grandfather get such a power to do that?"

"That guy is amazing for a man his age," Leo cut in, his eyes once again lighting up in a way that made Jason confused as to how a lanky boy like him could radiate such optimism at a time like this. But then again, Leo wasn't the one who was stuck there. Jason was. "I swear to God, he could come out to be Jesus, and I wouldn't be surprised."

"Don't talk like that," Jason snapped, annoyed at the way Leo called the Lord like that. Leo glanced at him, surprised, and it was then that Jason realized something. No matter what world, no matter what realm, faith was still a major part in everyone's lives. At least that he could hold on to.

"He was pissing around," Piper waved it off, and Jason wondered if the term 'pissing around' was used just as a way of speaking, or if Leo really had gone from church to church, peeing in straight and curvy lines along the pathways. The thought made Jason cringe. He focused his attention on her once again as she spoke, her expression sobering. "The point is...he isn't exactly here right now. He's in...Canada, actually. It's, a...another country, Jason. If you don't know what that is."

"Can he not take a...a 'machine'?" Jason asked hesitantly.

"Good job, bro," Leo said. "You remembered."

Piper rolled her eyes, though she was more nervous than she was annoyed, that much was clear. "No, he can't take a plane. A plane is that huge machine we first saw in the sky, Jason. And he can't take it because he has other important business to attend to that he refuses to tell me. He's rather famous among the remaining Cherokees, especially for his homemade remedies for those old and sick. Though I'm getting off point. He's not even answering my phone calls. I tried calling him, my cousins, and everyone attached. I don't even have enough money for an airplane ticket. But...he's coming back to America in two and a half months. I can try calling him within that time period, but I can't guarantee he'll reply. He's never been too fond of me, and he doesn't view technology as one of the highest regards in his opinion."

Jason blinked in confusion. "I only understood half of what you said."

Instead of Piper having to explain in more simplified terms, Leo cut her off, surprisingly enough. He looked at Jason with uttermost sympathy, as if he was prescribing someone's death right before his eyes. Jason frowned. "You're gonna be stuck here for a long time, man. Almost three months."

"As in...three moons' time?" Jason felt like his throat was choking voluntarily on him. He couldn't breathe anymore; all his intakes came out wrong, like he was smoking volcanic ash. This was what he felt would be called 'hyperventilating'.

From Piper's expression, he knew he was right. It was right then he stormed out of the kitchen, feeling too sick in the stomach to look at either of the two straight in the eye. He should have never bothered Piper in the first place, that one night in the woods. He should have not been curious by her type; not even had been able to _want_ to know where she came from, how she became the way she was.

Three months. Three moons. The entire hot, scorching summer ahead of him. All because Piper forgot that devil's ring.

* * *

 **A/N: This was sorta a filler chapter in the beginning except nearer to the end. I just wanted to show Jason and Leo's relationship in the beginning. It's sorta hot and cold, just like his and Piper's. So basically, the rest of the story is gonna be how Jason reacts throughout the three months and how his attitude changes. Stay tuned.**

 **Next up: the movies – Jason's intake on popcorn, shutting cellphones off during show times, etc. It's gonna be a long three months, that's for sure. Feel free to leave in suggestions about what else you want Jason to learn about/confused about.**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


	7. Inside Out or Outside In?

**A/N: Thanks for all the positive feedback! I really do appreciate it, and it truly made my day! Here's out to all of you! Remember, if you have any other suggestions about different scenarios that you want Jason to encounter, leave it down below; I'm completely open to options. This scenario is:**

 **The movies.**

 **Barely edited, due to the fact I was sort of in a rush to get this through.**

 **Sorry for the late update! School work hit me out of nowhere like an acne blip – disgusting but you gotta deal with life.**

 **Speaking of dealing with life...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters nor do I own the song _New Perspective_ by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~You come along because I love your face  
_ _And I'll admire your expensive taste~_

* * *

It actually had taken Prince Jason a lot of time to get over Piper's words the previous day. Being the dimwitted but royal person he was, he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he was to stay there until Piper's ancestor could figure out a way to take him to his home. And even then, no one knew for absolute sureness that her grandfather could do it. He felt cheated, in a way.

In fact, it took him two extra days of grovelling in his hovel of a bedroom, surrounded by a bunch of beach 'shorts' and shirts and lying around (he duly noted that Leo's roommate must have _really_ enjoyed the beach) as he sat there day by one last day mourning over the fact that he could be home. He only exited out of Leo's roommate's room, a boy named Percy Jackson whom he may have mentioned before, for food and the bathroom, plus a few lessons in what Leo thought to be 'important'. Other than that, he refused to acknowledge Leo's presence whatsoever.

He wondered if he'd be the type of person who – if spent in one place the longest – would soon forget to remember his hometown's faces. Of course, he'd spent a few days in this new dimension already, but he couldn't help feel hopeless when it came to getting out of there. He tried remembering Reyna's face right before she left: her lips quirking downwards as she frowned confusedly at him, her eyes shining with disappointment at the thought of being rejected (even if just to be sick outside), her arms almost reaching out to comfort him with her warmth, and he sighed with regret.

He couldn't help but feel selfish about Reyna coming with him to this dimension instead of him alone; at least then he would have company. Not that Leo and Piper were necessarily _bad_ , he felt obligated to think. There definitely could have been worse. But there certainly could be better.

He was just in the middle of staring blankly and nostalgically at the wall while he thought about Reyna, his sister Thalia, his friend Dakota, even his personal guard Frank, when he heard voices out in the living room. He immediately recognized them to be Leo and Piper's, and they seemed to be laughing together, though he was quite used to that by now. He felt quite the third wheel, but why wouldn't he? Not only was he selectively choosing to ignore them both, but he honestly felt he couldn't lie in common grounds with either of them.

And that sent his thoughts circulating to his irritation about them. Leo was his own type of person; with his own quirks, own sarcasm leaking out with every step he took, own inside jokes that no one but Piper seemed to get, and simply very frustrating to deal with. Jason supposed he did have to give credit to one thing, though: he was trying to make the most out of Jason's situation by making everything seem more lighter than it actually was, though that too he found to be rather annoying. He just wished someone took _something_ seriously around that place.

And then there was Piper, who he thought to be a completely different story. Well, not so different from Leo, but there was still something separating the two mentally for him, but both irritated him the same. She always found a way to snap back at him when he outwardly expressed his irritation with her, when Leo had more of a resilience and patience in the manner. She always told him that he should be grateful that things weren't more complicated than they already were with people who weren't ready to take him in, and to, her words exactly: "stop acting like a pompous PMSing bitch bleeding like the Niagara!"

But he could tell she secretly felt bad about it because, then again, it wasn't exactly his fault that he walked in on her in his home dimension and was way too curious to even consider the option that something as stupidly drastic would happen quite shortly. After her temper defused after an awkward silence, she would glance up at him, her eyes squinting almost apologetically, and would give him some more food to chomp down, though he didn't eat much nowadays due to nostalgia and stress. But he never did get to voice out his real concern at that moment: what the hell PMSing could possibly mean.

But there were other times when he was grumpily stomping around the apartment during breaks of staring blankly at the walls, he would notice her conversation with Leo and how she would laugh with that sort of light in her eyes that was never there when she looked at Jason, and he inwardly wondered how it would feel like to make her laugh like that.

Not that it would feel like anything, of course.

He had Reyna. He'd always have Reyna. Reyna was gorgeous, charismatic, confident, had characteristics of a warrior, softened up to the people she loved, and more importantly, she was his. From day one of birth; it had been decided since then that they were destined to be together. He loved her definitely, and they still were to be married – if he was to come back. He shook his head firmly after a blank moment; he would come back. And when he did, the first thing he'd do, frozen time or not, he'd take Reyna close in his arms and charm her until she was sent to oblivion (hopefully not literally like he had been). And as for the kingdom, he'd make sure –

A sharp knock sounded through the room as he jumped, startled, and he groaned from the movement. He swore living there gave him a death-defying headache. "Jason!" Piper, of course. "Open up the damn door and see the daylight!"

After gathering up himself from his self-loathing personal seminar, he shouted back: "Piper! How lovely it is to hear your man-like voice at – " he glanced at the clock; he learned how to read and understand time from 'digital' clocks just the day before from Leo, " – two in the afternoon! Come here to tell me a bedtime story, will you?"

"You shouldn't be in bed right now! Let me see you," she said back, her voice clearly seeping out her slight annoyance, though she was obviously trying her best to hide it. This caused him to smirk into his pillows.

"If you're that desperate, you should have told me sooner," he mocked with sarcasm.

"Fine," she said hesitantly, after – what he thought to be at least – a second of rolling her eyes. "I'm that desperate." He tensed at this, waiting for what he didn't know. His mind felt like it had to take a quick backtrack because he felt so confused at the moment. Then she filled, "To go to the movies. You're forgetting that I barely got to see the daylight either, you know." And it was true, he thought. She nowadays had a job to do at a marketplace Jason kept forgetting the name of as something to do for the summer and to make money. At this, he felt slightly guilty; she _did_ deserve some type of break, and he didn't really help with all of his moping.

But he wouldn't be moping if it weren't for her. "Ask Leo!" he shouted back, refusing to back down stubbornly.

"Leo's out on a date!" _Date_. There was that word again. From what he gathered from Leo about dating despite all the suggestive smirks he sent through his words, he understood that that word was a complicated one. And from all the facts, did that mean that him and Reyna have been 'dating' all their lives, if they were to put their love into words?

 _No, it has to be more than that._

"Why didn't you go with him?" he asked, half in his own thoughts by that point.

"And third wheel?" she retorted after a while; as if she couldn't believe he just asked such a question. Though he now understood; it would be way too awkward to stay around with a couple when you were just simply alone. "No way. Now let me see you! You've been in there for too long, and I'm done babysitting."

"You'd still be if you took me to the movies with you, you know," he pointed out, still trying desperately for her to go away, though he knew he was acting rather selfishly. "You're paying, too. _And_ the person you are looking after is very unwilling to go with you. It's all the factors you need for a perfect babysitting opportunity."

He heard her blow a raspberry rather immaturely through Percy's bedroom door. He blew one back, mocking her. Hearing this, she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear, "You suck balls, Jason Grace," before finally giving up and walking away (or he'd assumed because he heard footsteps descending away).

"It's Prince Jason to you, ma'am!" he shouted, feeling a smirk of triumph transfer to his face. It wasn't for long, though, because soon after the words escaped his mouth, the doorknob twisted open and in walked Piper with her normal shirt and shorts and flip-flops (yes, he finally got it right this time; hurrah for him).

As he stared after her with an unbelieving gaze from his face, she stared back at him before shrugging and giving off a sheepish smile in his direction. "The door was unlocked the whole time."

Needless to say, he was out of his bed in one finger's snap due to Piper's pushing him off the very said thing. He howled in pain since his body's been stiff for so long (at least, that's the only way he would tell the story in). "What was that for?!" he glanced up to see her adjusting her hands and cracking them before wincing.

"Don't look at me, you're so heavy!" she exclaimed, widening her eyes. He groaned audibly before propping his elbows up and glaring up at her.

Then he smirked cockily. "That's all muscle, darling." He was rewarded with a scowl from her face. She crossed her arms sassily, making his smile increase in brightness. "It's good to know you think about me that way, though."

"Please," Piper retorted then, pursing her lips with that irritating fashion of hers he was getting quite acquainted with lately. "If I had a dollar for every time I thought about you, I'd start thinking about you."

He grinned widely. "I see what you did there," he half-noted, half-complimented. He vaguely wondered why he hadn't bothered to stand up yet.

"Did you?" she asked quietly before suddenly crossing her legs and sitting right in front of him. She smirked at his widened eyes. "What's wrong? You uncomfortable, Jason?"

He _really_ wished she'd back away from him. Normally it wouldn't have bothered him that she was sitting right there, so close in front of him, but at a time when his hair looked like an utter mess and and his breath most probably smelt like his mother's attempts at cooking when she used to, he found that a proper prince shouldn't present himself like the way he was doing so openly to Piper just now. So of course it was believable that he would say, "No. Absolutely not."

"What," she raised her eyebrow mockingly. "No sarcastic comments? No 'don't call me Jason', Jason?"

He frowned. "Don't call me Jason."

"And there it is," she concluded, and just like she had discovered the world's greatest mystery, she stood up like nothing happened just then. Fine by him, of course. "Now, at the task at hand. Movie or not?"

"I prefer the term 'not'," he countered, crossing his arms like a little kid and pouting his lips. "Again."

They had a staring contest, ones he always used to have with Dakota whenever they argued, but people in public always used to stare at them weird and they'd stop because it seemed like the only thing to do. "Well I don't agree," she said finally, though she was the one who blinked first. And though that should have made him satisfied, he only sighed.

"Of course you don't. You never do," he said. Staring blankly and reaching his own conclusion, he asked innocently, "You aren't going to leave until I leave with you, aren't you? And I suppose it's too late to jump off a bridge?"

She grinned, blinking because it was clear she was not expecting him to understand that so quickly. "Much too late. Get ready in five," she stated before turning around to leave through the room's door.

"Five what?" he asked. Why did people here always leave their commands in fragments? It was quite frustrating.

"Five carrots, Prince Jason," she deadpanned. He was just on the verge of saying 'really?' (he was quite starving) before she saw it coming and shook her head before rolling her eyes. "No, never mind that. Five _minutes_. You know what those are, don't you?" She didn't leave enough time for him to get up from the floor and throw a pillow at her because she stalked out in no moment's hesitation.

After a few moments of brainstorming mental hate letters out to specifically Piper, he stood up, brushed his teeth (he perfected the mannerism now), cleaned his face, urinated (he was _much_ too sophisticated to say 'peed'; wait, he already did), before changing his black shirt and pants with ducklings all over them (the mystery roommate had some serious issues, he analyzed) into a normal set of shirt and jeans – what could be even considered normal, he thought.

He thought about how irritating the movies could be – perhaps she wanted to watch a romance picture? He figured that would be the case because back at his realm Reyna absolutely adored romance books. And movies wouldn't be so different – just a bundle of pictures being molded together to form one big-long-lasting one. Or he hoped it would be that way. He was still trying to figure out the concept of video and pictures from his mini lessons with Leo. He hoped he could put them to good use and not urinate in his pants doing so. As for the ride to the cinemas, he'd ridden in plenty of carriages to understand the concept of being in a moving box. A metal animal can't be so different, can it?

Wrong. He figured it out, of course.

Precisely two minutes after changing his clothes, him and Piper were inside of the metal thing and were currently zooming down the highway. He hadn't stopped clutching his seat from below him ever since. He was sure his stomach had dropped and crashed to the pavement below a long time back. His eyes were shut tight and teeth clenched hard, biting down so hard on his cheeks, that he was sure he tasted blood. His fingernails were white from the pressure. And as for Piper – he's sure he made it clear what exactly she was doing throughout his suffering: laughing her fat braid off, that's what.

"Calm down," she said scornfully, though the hint of mischief in her eyes – like she was about say something seriously annoying – gave her away massively. "It's not like people crash here and die every day on the road." His eyes widened at this. "Hey, here's something that's not talked about too much in the other realm." Like he really wanted to be reminded that he didn't belong to this wretched place and in another haven.

She continued her banter, not reciprocated, "Why did the cow cross the highway?" He didn't fucking care, that's why. "To get to the other meat processing camp." He was sure the term 'crickets' would fall under this category. "Guess what? The cow died because you can't actually cross a highway without getting painted bloody by a car, yours truly. It was grounded." It didn't make any sense, but her distraction failed miserably, though it was clear that was precisely her goal. "You get it, like grounded beef? Ah, never mind. It's okay, I hate meat jokes too. As you can tell already, dear friend, I'm a vegetarian."

"St-stop," he gasped, trying to breathe in air as he struggled to breathe for a second. "I-you know, I'm not used to t-this. I c-can't...I'm go...I'm going to be s-sick..." That ceased Piper's guffawing immediately.

"Not in my damn car, you're not," she said sternly, her mouth forming a thin line. He groaned as the car hit a sharp turn to a green sign labeled 'exit' and clutched his stomach with his arms.

"P-Piper..." he coughed. Why was this bothering him so much? He handled a lot worse before. He handled conversations with his father worse! And Piper seemed to be an okay tamer – er, driver – despite all the mocking sharp turns she took just to spite him, so why was he making such a big deal of this? He supposed he couldn't help it; it was just the way his body worked.

Piper finally seemed to notice just how uncomfortable he was with a quick sideways glance, and he watched through his green-with-disgust face as she formed a guilty frown. "Hey, it's alright..." her voice sounded so soothing and _real_ unlike her sarcastic positivism, that he almost forgot about his sickness right then and there. The tone she spoke in was just so compelling and made him feel lighter, in ways he didn't quite understand and was too afraid to take that leap. However, another sharp turn and it was snapped out of his head, forgetting completely the feeling she brought him very briefly. "We're almost there. Just hang on for one more minute, okay?"

Thank the God that she was actually telling the truth that time. As soon as Piper parked the car in between the painted designated white lines, he snapped open his seat belt (with a few unfamiliar fumblings because he wasn't used to the mechanism) and dashed out the car quickly. He had to pant a few times, earning a strange look from a passerby, and soon, gratefully, it disappeared. That is until Piper muttered as she too got out of the car, when she clearly thought he wasn't listening, "How's he going to react when he finds out we have to go home the exact same way?"

Jason could tell her right then: not very good at all, and he was about to express just how bad he would react to the topic when she grabbed his arm and pulled him to the doors to enter the ever-famous unfamiliar cinemas.

A word to sum up the inside of the building? Huge would be proper. And festive. And active and chattery and loud. Okay, a couple of words. As Jason watched in awe as he stared at the huge black 'television' screens above that kept changing pictures with different wordings on them, it was then he realized he was about to be accustomed to something he was definitely not affiliated with in any way.

Especially when he looked down from the screen in shock as he took in the brightly lit glass case that engaged candies and sweets he yet to have learned the name of. Even the money exchanger thing looked mighty technological. But as his head snapped up to taken in the sight of a couple of other glass cases, it was then he noticed yellow and white...balls that popped through the center of the box. He knew it had to be some type of machine, but he felt that just staring at it fascinated him to no extent. And, _wait...are those –_

"Those are kernels. Like corn," Piper explained, taking in his surprised expression with amusement like she always did when he saw something new and fascinating. "You'll find that everything made here in America – again, that's our country – is made of corn. Corn syrup, citric acid, dextrose, malt, sorbitol, and starch – not that you'd know what half of those things are – are made of corn. Only processed."

Jason blinked, taking that in with a newly found frown on his face. He followed Piper as she walked towards the glass bar in the line after they had gotten their tickets. The movie was called 'Inside Out', from what he's heard from the conversation, and he anticipated very much what type of movie it would be. "Why's there so much corn?"

Piper shrugged. She halted as they were to wait in line along with the other customers. "'Cause America's biggest ingredient is corn. It's the only thing they know _how_ to make, and it's absolutely disgusting, honestly," she explained with a distraught expression on her face. "Because, sure, corn is healthy and stuff. But mixing in sugar and other things through processing... It's just...pretty frustrating, and I know you must be wondering why America is doing that to its people," he actually _had_ been thinking that; being a ruler himself, it was almost automatic that he'd jump to such conclusions. "The answer simply is: I really don't know."

"Then why not...move to another country?" Jason asked curiously after deep consideration. "If all you complain about is how low the economy is."

Piper grinned at him; why, he wasn't sure. She wasn't one to honestly smile at him like that, and he wasn't quite sure how to react to it. "That's a good question. But you've gotta understand that it's a pretty annoying process to move there; you need citizenship there and everything. And all my friends and relatives are here, too, and America isn't that bad in the first place. Just the people here may only focus on the bad things or the good things. We need to understand that it's a balance."

It was a silent after that, as both of them relished her words in. It was true, in his perspective anyway: his kingdom too did have a balance. He was sure that even when he became ruler, there would be both the positive and the negative. What he decided to do with them would only stand out. "What is it that you're planning on purchasing, anyway?"

"Popcorn. It's delicious, trust me," Piper said simply. Jason blinked, realizing that the kernels too were basically corn and was being baked into a newly processed junk food, before laughing at her. She noticed this before smiling sheepishly. "What? Just because everything's made out of corn, doesn't mean I won't eat it." He only laughed harder.

When Jason and Piper finally had there turn in the line and received their 'popcorn' in colorful bright bags, they walked together to their designated theater room (rather he followed her because he had no idea where to go). The first thought that came to mind when they entered the room was that it was dark. They walked up a hill (he guessed the proper term for it would be inclination) to all the plush seats decorated in rows and rows and rows of seating. There were already people there.

And then, Jason turned around. How he hadn't quite noticed it before, he didn't know. But God, it was enormous. Bright lights were flashing everywhere as the screen in front of him illuminated throughout the dark room. He'd seen a television at Leo's apartment before, but this was about enlarged as nearly twenty or more of Leo's.

And the video (to what Piper had called the 'trailers' – meaning the movie hadn't started and these were just previews of the movies coming out later on during the following years) was expanded to where Jason had to turn his head fully each way to see what was going on. The voice from the screen boomed through his head, almost making that headache he had earlier come back. He assumed that when they sat in a seat farther away from the screen he wouldn't really have to do that.

But still. Wow.

Jason blindly followed Piper through the rows as she barely was able to hide her once again smiling face since he was so immersed into his surroundings. He wondered what the other people in the theater must think of him for looking around the room in absolute awe like he'd just seen anti-Christ. He sat down with Piper in one of the middle rows as he watched the trailers. Most of them had pretty horrible plots, but he didn't care; it was not everyday you would see something like this in his realm. He didn't even care anymore if 'Inside Out' _was_ a romance. He'd watch it and enjoy it all the same.

"That guy just died, and you're smiling like a doofus," Piper mumbled to him silently next to him. _I was smiling? Kill it now!_ "You'd think it was your wedding day or something. Though I'm not sure if even then you'd ever smile."

"I'm not smiling," he denied, pulling off a straight face. "And dying brings me joy."

She grimaced through the light of the screen. "That was intensely emo, even for you."

He frowned. "I'm not sure if I'm entirely familiar with that term you used. Do you mean emu?"

She shook her head, not answering his question. Finally deterring his eyes away from the screen for just one moment, he saw something in the corner of the theater, something so hideous and disgusting that he jumped in his seat, making Piper turn her attention to him. "What's _that_?"

Piper followed his line of sight before releasing tension on her shoulders. "They're just making out." The two teenagers were eating each other. Enough said.

He shivered and shuddered, now forcefully looking back at the screen. "In public? You'd think they'd have more poise."

"Kids do dirty stuff here all the time," Piper only shrugged. "A lot is different here, you know from where you're from."

"I'm unfortunately getting very well aware to that," he muttered, half to himself, frowning. He was feeling strange about this place; more so than usual. He sighed regretfully. After the trailers had reached a close, a warning had been mentioned to turn off your cellular phones. He watched as Piper reached in her pocket and pressed a few buttons (more like tapped on the screen a few times) before the screen shut off and she put it away. "Why do you have to silent it?"

She looked at him like he was stupid. What did she expect? He didn't understand anything there. "So it doesn't disturb anyone while watching the movie, dumb butt."

"My buttocks are not dumb," he said in a matter-of-fact voice, raising his chin upwards defiantly. He reached into the popcorn bag and popped a few kernels in his mouth; the taste wasn't altogether unsatisfying, but then again, he absolutely adored the kingdom's sweets from the kitchen, yet those were highly unhealthy for his daily excercising.

She mimicked his expression into her own, and doing the same with her chin. With her pouted lips, he couldn't help but find her amusing and at the same time almost delightful to watch. Maybe if they did try hard enough to become friends, they could make great ones. "Is too."

Or not.

"You take that back," but she couldn't because the movie started precisely right then. The movie, like he had been suspecting based on the trailers, was 'animated', a term Leo frequently talked about when he was discussing 'anime''s with him (obviously it was derived from the word animated or vice versa).

It took some time to get used to, but he quickly found himself immersed into the movie along with the rest of the theater and watched as the emotions played themselves out very much like his was, though somehow different: disgust with some of the strange habits of the new world, anger at Piper but mostly himself, fear of not getting home in time (though time was frozen there), sadness – that much is pretty obvious, and then that tiny, almost unrecognizable joy he felt right at that moment watching that film.

And before one was to ask: yes, he did laugh at all the comedy relieving interludes, and he did cry at that part when the main character sought comfort at finally being home with her parents as she let her emotions take over her – literally. It reminded him too much of his situation, and he couldn't help but feel hopeless but at the same time hopeful over it.

Piper was there next to him to comfort him through it all.

Well, thoroughly mockingly, since she was laughing at him lightly for crying in front of her, and yes, he was absolutely embarrassed of doing so, but he found himself feeling better after it.

It was the first time he ever allowed himself to cry since he arrived there.

* * *

 **A/N: For those of y'all who've seen Inside Out, congrats to you. Brilliant movie and I'm so proud of Pixar for making such a comedy/angsty thing, all wrapped up in one gorgeous film. And for those of y'all who haven't: get out of your lazy fanfiction-reading butts and freaking watch it! I say that respectfully, of course.**

 **Review and tell me what you think of this chapter. Leave suggestions on what you want next chapter's prompt for Jason's confusion – every thought is worth it! (Hopefully next chapter will be a lot more sooner, and I'll make sure to prioritize.)**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


	8. Ship Is Not Just a Boat

**A/N: Yo, I am so bad with updates, and for that I sincerely apologize. Truth is, I guess I've just been insanely lazy. I wouldn't even blame y'all if you barely even followed this story anymore. This scenario is:**

 **Pop Culture.**

 **Not edited yet.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters at all, nor do I own the song _New Perspective_ by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~And who cares, divine intervention  
_ _I wanna be praised from a new perspective~_

* * *

"Are you sure you're supposed to press this button?" Jason asked confusedly, his index finger hovering over the rounded circle thing hesitantly. Him and Piper were currently sitting on top of his bed (or rather, whoever the bug Percy's), and she was teaching him the basics of technology. How to open a tablet.

In his realm, a tablet was certainly not a melodramatic colorful screen which had a talking lady voice flirting with him from time to time; it was a solid plaque which had various laws plastered over it. This was certainly something new. Piper rolled her eyes, stretching out her legs in front of her. For once, they were clad in pants, he thought absentmindedly. He was getting used to her wearing shorts all the time, so it was slightly strange to see the change in her attire. Not that he was complaining, of course – because that would be absurdly unexpected of him.

"I'm pretty sure I know how to work my own iPad, dear Princey," she mock-scowled at him, glancing down at her nails as if she was bored. He thought that, finally, she might be getting bored with the ever-not-ending of his confusion with the new innovations sprouting about. He _hurumphed_ at her, snorting. "What?"

"Nothing," he frowned, slightly glancing away from her. "But if you want to leave, you know, you can. No one's stopping you."

Piper glanced up at him before returning the frown. She sighed, tucking a mahogany strand behind her ear. "That button right there," she repeated for what felt like the tenth time to Jason, "is called the 'home button'. It sends you back to the 'home page'. Isn't that ironic?"

He could hear the bitterness seeping through her words. "Then why is there a curvaceous box in the circle? What does it represent?"

She blinked at him blankly. "It represents a box," she shook her head at him as he stared confusedly below him at the tablet. "Seriously, you're over thinking this. Just," It was then that she physically reached over to his hand and guided his finger to the mentioned button, "Press it." Shaking off the unearthly feeling he got when she did that, he did exactly as he was told to.

He watched in amazement as the screen washed into life, just like it had done before when he'd seen Piper's phone about a week ago. The picture this time was different: a shot between five strange boys stood there, staring back at him with smiling faces. Across the screen placed the words: _Mayday Parade_. "What the duck is this?" he asked, wondering how many boys Piper knew. And the men seemed to be about thirty...that was strange.

She grinned, her eyes lighting up happily as she gazed down at her tablet – the first real emotion she'd shown all day. "It's Mayday Parade."

He shot her his typical face he made at battle when he stroked through enemy barrier – a plain, indifferent look. One that Octavian particularly despised the most, considering he got that look a lot. That made Jason pause. When was the last time he thought about _that_ man? "Poppy cock."

That only made her smile grow wider. "That's what old people say when they actually mean 'bullshit', don't they?"

"Don't call me old, Miss," he said, still staring at the tablet below him. The writing above it said _11:03 AM_ and he was quite glad that he actually knew what that meant now. "I'm the same age as you. I'm assuming."

She nodded her head once. "Yes, we are. I'm the same age as Reyna, and I'm guessing she's the same age as you, or you wouldn't be...you know, getting it _on_."

There was a silence. "No, I'm afraid I don't know." This caused a groan from Piper, undoubtedly. "Anyway, _what_ is Mayday Parade?"

"Mayday Parade," Piper started out as she sat up straight and adjusted her hair as if she were prepared to present a debate (why he picked up on little things like that, he didn't quite know). "Is only one of the most amazing bands ever to be produced on this planet."

"As in," he replied after taking that thought in as a different thought occurred to him, "a wedding band? But they're so...ancient. Almost as if they're in – "

"Another realm?" she cut in, raising her eyebrow hotly. The way she gazed at him made him almost feel challenged as if he'd just crossed a line with her. "Yes, I'm sure you are _quite_ familiar with such a predicament. And as for what a _band_ is – only the bane of my damn existence. Bands are beautiful, amazing, unique, magically – "

"A group of instrumentalists playing music of a specialized genre, I presume?" he said smartly, grinning at her. He hadn't even noticed the tablet had automatically shut off because he wasn't paying much attention to it anymore at that moment.

Jason was proud of himself of her reaction to his insight. She looked almost as if she respected him, and that thought made him want to laugh until his stomach felt weird. "H-how..." she trailed off, scrunching her eyebrows at him in bewilderment. "How do you – "

He felt triumph course through him over something so small. He'd been interrupting her a lot lately, and she was too befuddled by him to do anything about it. "How do I know? I went through hours of research, countless minutes pondering over the depths of the definition, through numerous pages and pages and – "

"That bastard Leo told you, didn't he?"

"Obviously," Jason replied, grunting before smirking at her indifferent face. Oh, how the tables had been turned, indeed. "Now, tell me more of this... _One Direction_."

Piper groaned, laying back into the pillows as she did so. After the whole nostalgic issue at the movie theater the previous days ago, he'd found himself a little closer to her than he was before then, finding it in himself to confront her easily now that he'd...discussed it over (he'd refuse to say he'd actually cried). Of course, he knew his boundaries. He wasn't stupid enough to cross it. But yet... "Of _course_ he'd tell you about that vexatious thing called a _boy band_."

"Hey, don't discriminate."

But just when he said it, Piper snapped in: "And this is coming from the guy who thinks slavery isn't a major political issue. Romans."

Ignoring her spiteful remark, he pointed out, "But isn't..." he pressed the circle button on the tablet again, letting the screen picture shine through the room, despite it being broad daylight. He read the label of the band again. "...Mayday Parade...a boy band as well? They're all...well, boys."

She clenched her jaw. He vaguely heard her mutter to herself: "Patience, Piper, he doesn't know, he doesn't know." He raised his eyebrow at her. How could someone, at the age of practically eighteen, be frustrated over something so small? But then again, he wasn't one to talk, considering he cried over a _film_. One meant for little children, at that. "A _boy band_ ," she finally started to explain. "Is when the instrumentalists don't use actual instruments. A band is when they actually _do_. You know, actually make their own music. No hate on to One Direction or anything; I'm sure they're all a fantastic group of people – they just ain't the type of people I listen to."

Jason nodded, as if what he was learning was sacred to him. As if this was something he might be quizzed on later. But seeing as how seriously Piper was taking this as, he figured he was too. "But Leo says you sometimes hum along to them. As in, frequently."

He watched as her cheeks flushed a little, and he smirked. She noticed this before stuttering, "Well...they're hard to _not_ pay attention to!" _She's so strange!_ "And hey. Leo listens to them way more than I do, you know. Where do you think he got his haircut from? That's right: Harry Styles, one of the people in that group. You know, his virgin haircut? Before he, like...blossomed?" At Jason's blank stare, she shook her head. "Never mind, you wouldn't know."

"I wouldn't," Jason said. "You're right. Though Leo told me that one of the members gave up. Told me it caused a huge ruckus among the...I don't remember what the term he used..."

"Fangirls?" Piper offered, smirking lightly. "Yeah. But then the kid, Zayn Malik, basically called another fellow boy band member a nosy bitch, and all of a sudden, all those years of adoring that Paki dude went to waste because everyone started hating on him. Lord, the meaningless drama these days kill me to no end."

He figured vaguely in one of the geography books he'd read in his pastime there in the apartment that 'Paki' was another term for the country Pakistan, which happened to be all the way across the world. That very thought made him wonder if his realm had countries across the world like that; they barely had the material to find out. Jason shook his head in a daze. "Tell me about it...these type of things didn't happen where I'm from...also, can you explain what is a fangirl?"

"Only the things you should be the most afraid of in your life," she said after taking his question into deep consideration. He felt his curiosity peak at the new things he was learning. This new realm seemed like a joke to him, honestly; nothing as serious and real as his realm. But he couldn't help how fascinated he was with this world. Never in his life would he ever imagine him feeling this way.

"I didn't think these things existed in this realm, but do you mean...a monster?" he suggested carefully. "Or...a demon?"

"Close. But not quite," Piper smirked, her dimples flashing as she tilted her head to the side, analyzing him. "I suppose you don't understand what 'shipping' is either, huh?"

"Wait, wait..." Jason shut his eyes tightly as he tried to focus. He'd heard of this word before. Sure, sailing and small ships were used frequently for trade back at his realm, but this was a different kind of boat, and he knew it. "A...a cruise ship? Is that what you mean?"

He couldn't believe he was actually disappointed when Piper shook her head lightly, her eyes gleaming with amusement back at him. "Nope. See, the definition of a fangirl is literally that: a fan... _girl_. You become one of those treacherous things when you have passionate feelings for a certain type of genre, a television show, and in some weird cases...for fiction books."

He felt his nose twitch as he absorbed that in. "But...it's fiction. It doesn't exist." She chuckled at him, her fingers absentmindedly reaching over to braid a thick lock of her hair. He stared at them for a while before glancing back up to her face again, not quite understanding why he had a sudden urge to stop her hands from moving. It was quite distracting.

"Tell that to them. And that's not even the worst part, which brings us to 'shipping'. I'm honestly proud of you for knowing what a cruise is, but that's not the point. Shipping is a form of fangirling; it's when you fangirl over a particular couple," Piper explained patiently, still twirling her hair. "Sometimes it doesn't even have to be a person with another person."

She said it like it wasn't something to fuss over, and that just made Jason's eyes grow wider in confusion. "What?"

She rolled her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time, though he found himself strangely used to it by then. "I _mean_ that some people ship a person with...let's say a brick, but as a sort of parody, duh," her voice deepened mockingly at the last word she used, and he repeated that word in his head. _Duh._ He liked the sound of it, as weird as that may sound. But then Piper's eyebrows knit together as she thought deeply about her words. "Then there's some people who take the parody to a whole new level and start writing fanfics about it, but that's no big deal."

"Er..." Jason muttered, staring at Piper as if she grew another head. "Alright." Like he knew what _fanfics_ were.

"And when people ship other couples," she continued, obviously not taking the hint that he didn't really want to know beyond this point. "They normally merge their names together. To whatever matches or sounds right, according to them." But when he muttered something that sounded like: "now don't tell me you're going to give me an example too", she took it as the sign to do the opposite. "An example would be..." she tapped her finger thoughtfully against her thigh. "Jeyna."

Jason frowned. "That sounds like a jam. Like it would be something I would want to spread on my toast. Pass me the butter and Jeyna," he mocked her.

She raised her hands in surrender as she defended herself, "Hey, I was trying, alright? There's a bunch of other ones too, like...Reyson? I don't know. And for the record, that was actually you and Reyna's ship name if you didn't realize it."

"I did," he stated, his voice clipped and cut short. _I really didn't._ "That's...nice to know. But isn't it...what's the word... _creepy_ that people actually do that?"

She shrugged. "You'd be surprised, honestly."

"Can people ship other people that aren't actually...together?" He didn't know why he was so intrigued by the concept of something that he felt would be redeemed enough to be fenced for because it was so strange.

Piper, shockingly, nodded her head as he sat there in silence, learning lessons he'd never thought he'd actually be willing to listen to. "That's called a non-canon ship."

"Give me an example," Jason said, not sure why he said it. He knew what she was going to say, but odd enough, he was prepared for it. As if he was too curious to hold back when he got so far already in.

"You're asking for this, but..." Piper sighed, folding her hands together finally after her restless endeavor. "Jiper. Jasiper. Pason. Or...maybe Jasper. Can you take a damn guess, Gracie Grace?"

He flinched at the way she said the last part in embedded irritation she said it in, as if she disliked him for ever suggesting to give an example. Though he didn't know why; she could have easily gotten away with 'shipping' herself with Leo or anyone else. "I'm guessing...us? We create Jasper. But isn't jasper a..."

"Birthstone for March? Yep, precisely," she confirmed, though he had no clue about whatever birthstones were. "But no one would ship us together, so that horrendous problem is solved," she waved the issue away, leaving him in a strange way uncomfortable.

"Er..." Jason repeated. "Alright." Then after a short moment later, he finally removed the tablet from his lap and put it on the bedside table. He found himself nothing to do with it, all of a sudden. It made him slightly miffed that the tablet made him start this conversation with her in the first place. Changing the subject abruptly, he asked, "Where's – ?"

"Hey, bitches!" Another boy's voice rang across the apartment, making Jason slightly smile in relief now that the brief tension between him and Piper was cut short. "I'm finally back from my date – " Leo said as he burst in the room, his dusty hair ruffled into wild curls and his smirk even more disastrous than Jason last saw him.

"Shouldn't it have ended yesterday night?" Piper asked, raising her eyebrow. "This has only been your second date with her."

"Who – ?" Jason tried to splutter, but just like that, he was ignored as Leo's eyes seemed to gleam with excitement like it normally did.

"Let's just say she liked my stick shift a lot more than she let on," Leo winked at the two of them, continuing to reign in his triumph. "And I ain't talking about my car."

Jason grimaced; strangely, he understood that innuendo, and he shuddered. But the male pride in him sort of appreciated Leo's humor at the moment, though he couldn't find it in himself to admit it, as usual. "Ugh, that's disgusting, Leo," Piper mockingly retorted before releasing a light chuckle. "Send my prayers to her, will you? I pity her so bad."

Leo stuck out his tongue at her before tilting his chin up defiantly. "Trust me, Calypso made a _ton_ of prayers last night, and I was there to preach up along – "

"Who's Caly – ?"

"Did you show her your weird birthmark on the side of your arm?" Piper cut him off, seemingly almost trying to irritate him to death. "'Cause I'm sure that was a huge turn-on."

"Oh, but on the contrary, my caramel-colored friend, may the nature spirits bless you with a rain dance – " Leo briefly stuck up his index finger as if he was a teacher and wanted to point out something worth dying for.

Unfortunately, Piper interrupted him by saying, "That's a bit racist, but I'm just gonna ignore that – "

Leo continued abruptly; Jason noticed that they had a tendency to joke around a little too sudden for him to keep up with. "She loved it. In fact, she adored it so much I'm going over again tomorrow night for round two of birthmark-exploring."

"Lovely," Piper noted dryly. "Is she packing the condoms or are you?"

Leo giggled, a sound that Jason really wasn't accustomed to hearing that it made him frown. "I may have told her to bring some extra," he said, holding his right hand up around his mouth and covering himself like an insecure teenage girl. He would know this because he'd seen Piper's pictures when she was a few years younger. "What do you gotta say about that, Pipes?"

 _Pipes._ He kept on forgetting that people actually nicknamed her that. He remembered vaguely one day when Piper had told him why her name was the way it was. It had to do with her grandfather, the very person that was helping him get out of that realm in the first place. Grandpa Tom had named her Piper because of how loud she would cry when she was little; according to Piper, her grandfather said she had really sharp lungs. Which made sense because Jason could imagine very well just how aggravated she could become.

"Nothing," she intervened, fully facing towards Leo now on the bed. It was then that Leo seemed to notice Jason right there to her side because he narrowed his eyes at him before smirking. _What is he thinking?_ "Just be careful, alright?" Jason's head snapped towards her as he gazed at her in amusement. Her voice noticeably changed into a softer tone as it held a slight sisterly protectiveness prowess. "I heard she can be quite the slut, no offense."

Leo rolled his eyes, clearly not taking this into consideration. "Piper, Piper, oh Piper," he sighed synthetically. " _Just because_ a girl pretty much sleeps-slash-dry-humps with anything with a dick and a pulse doesn't mean that she's a slut." Jason was sure that that was exactly what a slut was, but who was he to talk when he barely even knew the term well? "And I'm sure if anyone is a slut in this relationship, it would be me because, please. Have you seen this face? _I'd_ dry hump me."

Piper snorted, amused, all previous tension between the two platonic friends diminished now. "Yeah. Like a dog in heat."

Leo fake pouted, reminding Jason of exactly a dog right then. "You mock me, Pipes. Take it back." Piper was just on her way to form the words 'never', when Jason jumped at the chance as something briefly caught in his mind. Never would he imagine himself saying such a thing like what he said, and he was sure if he merged two names in his realm, they'd think he'd lost his marbles.

"Caleo!" Jason shouted with such precision that it caused Piper, who was still sitting not too far away from him, to jump in her spot. Both eyes turned to look at him, and he almost wished he hadn't spoken at all. _Brilliant,_ he thought, _now they listen to me._

Leo seemed to catch on to what he was saying than Piper, as not surprising as that was. "Is that...?" Leo asked suspiciously as he narrowed his gaze on Jason once more.

Jason reluctantly nodded, feeling dread as he said the next few words, "Your ship name, yes."

The next few moments seemed frozen as they all sat there, staring at him blankly. Jason shifted uncomfortably on the bed, wanting to turn away from them but make it seem natural. It was quite impossible. Then, with eyes radiating in more increments than the sun, Leo pumped up his fist into the air, yelling, "Fuck yes!" before sprinting from the doorway in two large steps. He arrived to Jason where he was sitting before pouncing on him and squeezing him to what felt like death. "I love you, man. I didn't even know you knew shit like that! I shall kiss the person who taught you."

Jason smirked, his face red from the tight abrupt hugging, as he stared from the corner of his eye to Piper whose eyes shot wide open. When Leo finally released him after extraneous moments later, her face was still in that disturbed fashion, making Jason chuckle lightly. "I prefer _not_ , thank you very much," she stated with force.

Leo looked from her to Jason before finally coming to the conclusion that the ever-so blessed teacher was, indeed, Piper herself. Then he laughed. "What? Afraid I'll dominate you with my amazing kissing skills?"

"Hey," Piper said, shaking her head but all throughout still not entirely annoyed the same. "I just don't want what Calypso probably has, you dig?"

Leo pinched her lightly on her side before sternly looking at her. "Yo, that was a low blow." Piper shrugged. "You don't even know her, woman. If you give her a chance, you might like her, though I don't see why you should stick you nose in other people's business. First Jason, and now this? Seriously?"

Jason didn't understand why the room had gotten so quiet all of a sudden. He was sure that his face stopped functioning to show his emotions long ago, but this was a completely new case. He'd never seen Leo and Piper fight before, even if this was something small, and he didn't like how it went. He preferred the way it was in the beginning when Leo first showed up that day.

Then, Piper sighed: "You're right," she said in her form of apologizing that caused his eyebrow to shoot up. He'd honestly thought he'd never see the day. Except that time when she had apologized for bringing him to this realm but accident, but still. It was still something foreign for him to see. "I, of all people, should know better than to stereotype people just based on what people say about them. I'm sorry, but if you really care about her, you should bring her over some time. I'd really like to meet her."

It seemed like every word she tried to say came out forced, but he could tell from her down turned plump lips and solemn face that she was being genuine. And it was a brief moment when, for the first time since he met her, she seemed to show actual emotion other than dry humor in front of him. Even if it wasn't directed to him. Though maybe...if he continued to spend time with her during the following weeks, he would see it more often.

He figured that the two of them weren't so different in some ways; they may sometimes fake their happiness to those they cared about. He'd know because he'd been doing it all his life. To his friends, to his parents, and even to Reyna, he didn't know what was the 'proper' way for a prince like him to behave in front of them.

But as he stared at Leo and Piper continue to fool around with each other with about zero care in the world, he wondered how it must feel like to be cut free from the strings that attached him to reality.

Though his deep reflective portion was cut short when Leo turned back to him, his lips turning up again into his signature optimism. "So Jay Jay," he said, causing Jason to flinch before he could mutter 'I am a bloody prince'. "Did Piper teach you about OTPs, yet?"

Another thing both him and Piper had in common: they both knew how to groan.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm debating on whether or not I should bring in Percy and Annabeth yet in the next chapter or later on, when things settle down. But for the next chapter, I'm planning another eventful one, though I'm gonna need a solid vote on it. The options are: restaurant (Leo included because Jasper ain't a thing yet), water park (Leo again included), or just a simple one where Piper and Jason are inside and she's teaching him how to play cards on a rainy day (this prompt, however, does not include Leo).**

 **Feel free to leave suggestions! Review!**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


	9. Splish Splash

**A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know. I updated way late. Again.**

 **This scenario is: Water Park – or rather, Splish Splash for all you New Yorkers out there.**

 **Not edited (I've seriously gotta work on that).**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters at all, nor do I own the song _New Perspective_ by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~But leaving now would be a good idea  
_ _So catch me up on getting out of here~_

* * *

Jason flinched when he woke up that day. He had one of those dreams where one falls down a cliff and, during sleep, they feel legitimately like they're falling through space. He jerked up from his bed and ran a hand through his hair in irritation. He'd been there for about two weeks then, and to him, it had gone by quite slowly, but at the same time, too fast for his own liking.

How could he have mixed feelings for a thing that was granted to be taken away from him in a moment's notice? But then again, he realized it must be from all of the stress that had been taken away from him since he arrived there. At least, the part about not having to worry about keeping up an image of himself to his peers. He didn't like the idea that time was frozen from his realm; he actually wanted someone out there to be looking for him.

Then he'd remember how abruptly concern Reyna and the others would get and how much stress would be upon them, and he'd think of how selfish he was being. He laid back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. It had only been just two weeks at the place and so much has changed. He wanted to go back badly – that was a given – but even he had to admit that he was sort of getting used to the place as short as he had been there.

Leo with his sarcastic humor galore and Piper with her...whatever it was she had that intrigued him so. He couldn't help but think what would happen if somehow he was stuck here without Piper's guidance and Leo's optimism. He wondered if he'd be losing it right now and completely giving up on all hope.

He shook his head abruptly from those thoughts. He knew that the moment he left that place and returned home, he'd most likely never communicate with Piper again, let alone Leo. He would return to being the stubborn prince he was and forget all of this ever happened. He'd be with Reyna, his arms wrapped tightly around her comfortingly. He would reach over and tuck her dark hair behind her ear and kiss her and tell her how much he had missed her, all the while he'd rather be with –

A sharp clacking of metal hitting the ground cut him away from his thoughts, making him startled and out of his bed in a second. He walked swiftly through the door and down the hallway, peeking his head through the crevice to see if a thief of some sort trespassed into their – er, Leo's – apartment. He stopped in his tracks as he heard two people talking and sighed in relief as he recognized their voices.

"Shhh," Piper hissed, narrowing her eyes at Leo whose eyes, in contrast, were blown wide. He cowered away from Piper in a perpetual manner. "You're gonna wake the whole place up!"

"Yes," Leo said timidly, still looking intimidated by Piper's sharp glare. "I'm sure Jason must be shaking in his pants from all the people around him."

Piper left one last resounding smack on the back of Leo's head before reaching over and picking up a pot that was clearly the source of the loud noise. "Next time you drop it, I'll hit you with it."

Leo snorted. "Alright, blonde girl from Tangled, Netflix and chill with someone already, will you?" Needless to say, Jason did not understand one word from that entire statement, and he didn't bother presenting his presence just because of it.

"Sorry," Piper muttered, resting the pot back on the counter and softening her gaze on Leo, who looked relieved. "I'm just a little pissed at last night's episode of The Vampire Diaries. I'm annoyed at Caroline, to be honest. Like, she has a freaking fiancee! And it's _not_ Stefan. And then there's that bitch Valerie who decides that somehow she was some important figure in Stefan's life, completely ignoring the fact that both Katherine and Elena pretty much dominated that spot...oh, and Alaric is going freaking bat-shit crazy by trying to raise his wife from the dead. Like, how many times does that plot twist have to occur in that stupid show for them to realize that it's not going to work?! I swear, the only thing that keeps me hanging on to that show is Matt's obliviousness and Damon's hotness. And where the _fuck is Tyler_?!"

Leo blinked at her, clearly trying to catch up, something that Jason had been trying to do the moment he arrived in this realm. "Ohhkkaayy," Leo said, patting Piper's back comfortingly. "I'm just gonna stand here and watch you rant."

Piper glared at him. "You're the one to talk! I know you watch that show, too, don't lie to me. You should seriously consider erasing your browsing history."

Leo looked sheepish at this part. "Alright, fine, look, all the girls are smoking hot on that show. I'm comfortable in my masculinity enough to say that Damon is fucking hilarious. I'm not ashamed at all to say that Matt has, like, no relevance to that show because somehow he is _still_ human. Also, how the fuck is Bonnie not even concerned in the slightest about visiting Jeremy. Why is Damon not hooking up with Bonnie, instead pretending to be 'friends' because we both know that doesn't last for at least seven episodes before someone's humping another, even though Elena just died? And – "

"Look who's ranting now," Piper droned out, her face straight as she spoke to the Latino boy in front of her. Yes, Jason knew what a Latino was. Be fucking proud. _Even my dialect is changing,_ he thought suddenly, completely sure of himself that was not a good thing. Leo looked like he wanted to retaliate, but Jason just about had enough of the conversation he did not understand.

"Can anyone tell me why you two are up at 4:30 in the morning? Especially you Piper, don't you not live here?" Jason said out loud finally, showing the two his presence in the kitchen.

The two turned to look back at him, raising their eyebrows simultaneously as they just realized he had been there the whole time. Finally, Piper mumbled, "Salty, much?" which, again, he did not understand. "I came here because we're planning to go somewhere tomorrow, or rather, later on today."

"Where?" Jason asked, suddenly curious. He hadn't gone outside for a long time since that movie theater business. He hoped he wouldn't cry again and embarrass himself. Especially in front of Leo. He had a feeling Leo would find it amusing a lot more than Piper did.

Piper grinned, showing her white teeth that peeked through her lips. She didn't say anything for a moment which made Jason suspicious. He wondered if he had anything on his face; then he scolded himself for acting self-conscious about himself in front of Piper. "What?" he asked her, enunciating the word.

She shook her head, still smiling. Something shot through his stomach right then, nothing physical, but he certainly felt it, and he wondered what it was. It had definitely never happened to him before. This realm was doing something to him, it was was for sure. "Nothing," she said. "It just sounds like you're saying 'wey' instead of 'where'. Have I ever mentioned how much I love your accent?"

Again, he felt that same feeling shoot through his stomach and something hot flood his cheeks. Piper was certainly in a better mood today, despite the fact it was early, and somehow it was having an effect on him. Leo, who watched the two of them from the side, smirked knowingly, like he knew something Jason didn't, and stood up from his slouch. "Don't get used to that, Jason, she falls for like every other accent out there. Anyways, back to business. Now, I don't have any hook-up sessions with Calypso this weekend, and you're," he nudged his head towards Jason, "too inexperienced for an actual club yet, so we're gonna start off with something simple: Splish Splash."

Jason stood there in confusion as he took this bit of information in. "Isn't that the sound a puddle makes when you jump in it? I used to do that all the time with my close friend Dakota. My father, however, never did appreciate the mud stains we'd get on our robes later on..."

"Well, you are right in a sense," Piper explained, smoothly trying to change the subject from his short nostalgia. "But in this case, Splish Splash is a name of a water park. That's like an amusement park, but instead of a roller coaster, there's a huge water tube – sort of like a slide – that you go through, and it's really fun. Not that you'd know what an amusement park or a roller coaster is..."

Leo rolled his eyes. "What Piper is trying to say is that we're going there today, maybe at like noon. You need sunlight or you'll turn even more white, Blondie."

Jason was starting to think Leo had a thing against white people, but he could tell it was all in good humor. In a way he wouldn't imagine, in this realm, some people took racist insults and twisted them into jokes. "And this had to be decided at 4:30 because...?"

"Because...it's important," Piper stated, her eyes squinting, gesturing in an obvious way. She opened her mouth to say something else, but Jason cut her off, already knowing.

"Let me guess," he said monotonously, "'Duh.'" The two of them stared blankly at him before Piper's eyes widened in awe. The look was so strange that he couldn't help but look away and focus his eyes on Leo. That, he then found out, didn't help either because all Leo did was push his chin up forward from his jaw, inflicting one of his 'funny' faces. Jason had to bite back a snort.

"You're learning!" Piper exclaimed happily, suddenly flipping around to glance back at her little pamphlet. _Okay, then._

Leo abruptly clapped his hands, leading Jason to twitch, startled, and said, "Well, that's that. Now get your stuff ready. We'll be leaving soon."

Jason's eyes widened. "It's _4:30_. Even _I_ know that no one is awake at that time."

Piper walked up to him and patted his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. Leo will give you a pair of swim shorts and all. Wear a shirt too for now." She stated it so casually before walking away, and he was left there in shock, gaping at her as she walked back to the door, clearly getting ready to leave.

"For _now_? What does that even – " The door already slammed shut. He only sighed in resignation, looking over to Leo who just shrugged and padded away.

A few minutes later, he realized his two guardians had been joking with him on the matter to get ready soon. So he ended up sitting on the couch at 4:46 in the morning, his swim shorts and shirt already on. _Incessant idiots._

At noon, they arrived at the place they called 'Splish Splash'. And to say he practically yelled at Piper and Leo for making him wait for more than was necessary was an understatement. They, the ugly ducklings, chortled maniacally at him, making him grimace the entire time.

His fight quickly died down when he noticed the entirety of the water park, his anger and resentment finally at hushed peace. When Piper had told him there were tubes of water that people went down for fun, he assumed she was being snarky with him again. He should have known she wouldn't lie to him about something like this, though it wasn't that important, after everything he'd discovered.

But good _heavens_ , if this place wasn't covered with water rushing down tubes that were the width of his entire dining table back home and parents with their kids screaming in joy as the slid down them. There were people, he could see as they passed the ticketing booth and headed towards a room labeled 'the locker room', that were eating food under large umbrellas which provided them shade from the scorching sun. And, despite the absolute lack of clothing from the men and the women, the place radiated happiness and optimism he had yet to discover.

"What are you thinking about?" Piper chirped from beside him, a grin playing loosely along her lips, and he wondered how she could live in a place that wasn't raging in war.

His gaze shifted from one particular girl who literally had a small piece each just covering her intimate parts, and he looked back at Piper reluctantly. "You're not going to wear something like that, are you?"

Her eyebrow raised as she responded, "You mean a bikini?" He nodded slowly back. "What if I did?"

At those words, he felt something cold shock down his spine and his stomach doing something entirely foreign to him. He looked away once again, not sure why exactly he felt the outside heat became about tenfold hotter. He cleared his throat, hoping he didn't notice his abrupt uncomfortable shifting. "N-nothing."

Before Piper could reply, Leo, who he almost shamefully forgot about for a second there, shouted almost uncannily loud to them. "Hey, assholes! You coming or not?" From the corner of his eye, he saw a mother glare scornfully at the three of them before covering her child's ears forcefully. He felt sort of obligated to glance sheepishly at her back.

They ended up following Leo to the locker rooms. He was about to turn back to Piper and ask her about where exactly she heard about this place when he realized she wasn't behind him. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and he turned back to Leo. "She went to the woman's side. Don't worry, she wasn't kidnapped," he smirked at him before gesturing towards the door.

Jason sighed and followed. When he went inside, he was immediately engulfed in the smell of something sharp and...murky. He almost gagged. "Ugh," he said. "What is that smell?"

"It's called chlorine. If you can't handle it, then we might as well turn around. It's in the water and pretty much everywhere else here," Leo said, his hands reaching down to...pull off his shirt?

"Whaa – what are you doing?" he said, his eyes widening and his hands going up to cover his eyes. "Er, I'm not exactly, you know, homese – "

He was cut off by Leo's cackle as he finally removed the cloth from his body. _Wow,_ Jason thought absentmindedly, _he really is scrawny as a stick._ "I'm not gay, not that there's anything wrong with that. But everyone in this realm does that. It's not something to be ashamed of. Jesus, I'm talking like I _am_ gay." Leo looked sideways at him and gestured to him. At first, Jason didn't know what he meant, then he looked down at his own shirt, and the seriousness of the situation dawned on him like a tidal wave.

"Oh," he said, then more pronounced, " _oh._ Really? In front of everyone?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "You do realize you're not the notorious prince in this realm, right? No one knows you. No one's even seen your _face_ until a couple of weeks ago. And no, no one's gonna judge you."

Jason stood there before taking a deep breath and finally taking his shirt off before handing it to Leo. "Better?" he said bitterly, despite his statement. Leo, very embarrassingly to him, whistled lowly.

"Damn, dude. You are ripped. Wait 'till girls find out you've got a body like this," Leo said shamelessly, crossing his arms in a cocky manner. "It'll make your personality worth it almost."

Jason felt the blow before he could react to it. All he could say was he was glad that at the moment, no one else was in the room with them to see his red face. A loud knock rang through the room, and they both looked over to the door in which it came from. "How long does it take to take off your shirt?" Piper's voice came through before a short pause was present. "Unless you two – "

" _NO_ ," they both claimed in unison, and they looked at each other awkwardly before Leo muttered something along the lines of 'okay this is freaking gay', and he walked over to the door. As soon as it opened, light from the outdoors shone through the humid room, along with a slightly irritated Piper who had her fist raised in mid-knock. It slowly drifted down as she took the two of them in.

He quickly gazed back, noticing that no, she wasn't wearing a...a 'bikini', or whatever, but it wasn't something totally different from it either. She had her hair wrapped in a loose braid that hung down her shoulder, and her little shorts wasn't the normal 'jeany' thing he normally saw her in. He finally lifted his eyes to her face only to see she was looking back at him with an unreadable expression on her face before bunching her eyebrows together.

"What?" he asked her as him and Leo walked out of the room together and on the concrete next to her. They continued to walk over to one particular large purple tube which half of it was encompassed by an enormous black box-shaped thing that he did not trust at all. His heart sunk as he noticed how long the line was, and he realized that judging by the determination on Leo's face, they would actually be staying there.

"It's just...you look different. With..." she trailed off in thought.

"No shirt?" he asked, a sudden feeling of overconfidence rushing through him, a part that wasn't entirely shown to its full extent until then. He knew Piper had been staring at him, his chest in particular, and he didn't understand why she and Leo were surprised to see he had some muscle. He was a prince, after all. He'd been in battles. He had to be strong. End of story.

And if there was one thing to be proud of, as shallow as it was, it was his body.

"I just..." she said, her voice so quiet right then that it only made his overconfidence shoot up a few pegs. "I just thought..."

"You thought what?"

"That you'd be more fit."

Silence (except for the fact Leo, who clearly overheard, barked out a laugh and mumbled 'major cockblocker, dude'). To say he'd been shot down like a canary that annoyed his fellow subjects was the truth and even more. Trying to recover from _that_ , he kept his smirk on his face and looked back at Piper. "That girl over there doesn't seem to think so."

And clearly, she didn't. All three of them, including Leo who had ceased his annoying chortling, turned around to see the girl gazing over at him with a glazed over look. The girl, despite her glossy black hair and the enormous amount of clothing lacking from her body, looked at him as if he was a piece of meat. And though he didn't like the way she was looking at him, he forced himself to appreciate it just to irritate Piper. For what and why, he didn't know. He just knew he wanted that.

Piper snorted, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms on her chest. "You mean the town whore? Yeah, okay. She'd fuck a cow if she was smart enough to find the right parts."

"Piper," Leo groaned pointedly at her, shaking his head, though even Jason knew he was trying to bite back a laugh.

"What? Don't you remember what she did to you? She's a bitch, and you know it," she replied, and Jason stared at her, completely confused on how she could say such a horrible thing about someone else. He knew of forms of backbiting, and while he wasn't used to it from Reyna or anyone else, he especially didn't like the way it sounded from Piper.

"What did she do to you?" he asked Leo, curious.

"Nothing," Leo said before frowning and turning around to face towards the line that decreased an incredible amount since. Jason honestly never thought he'd see the day when Leo Valdez was bitter about something. Leo was always so...so happy about everything. Ignorantly happy, yes, but optimistic still. And if something or some _one_ actually did something to him to cause him to behave like this...well, all he could say was he understood why Piper had said the things she had said.

Even Piper, who had started the trash talk in the first place, shook her head at him not to push Leo further. And he agreed. Needless to say, he felt rather guilty for pointing out the girl in the first place.

However, by the time they had reached the very front of the line, Leo's mood had increased back to the way it was before that mysterious girl had gotten involved. But another problem had risen: the ride itself. Thoughts and questions swam in his head about what exactly was about to happen. In his realm, no one went through danger for _fun_. No one purposely entered darkness for _fun_. But this was different.

"What are you thinking about?" Piper asked him just as screams and shrieks of curses were heard from the people who disappeared inside the tubes. Jason shook his head, not at all reassured from that. Something happened when the people enter that black box thing around the purple tube that caused them to shriek even louder, and he wasn't so eager to find out either.

"It's just..." he started, trying his hardest not to look like a coward at the moment. "In my realm, no one does this. It's just...different. Everything here is different."

Piper frowned at him, an expression almost like sympathy, but even she knew how much he hated that. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder...

"Ahhh, shit, no," Leo said firmly, finally joining in on their conversation since his awkward silence moments before. "You are _not_ , by no means, backing down now. Don't be afraid of the tube. _Be_ the tube."

"Leo."

" _Feel_ what the tube feels. _Know_ what the tube knows."

"Leo, seriously."

"And when you finally enter its depths...when you finally reach it at its most vulnerable state..."

"Leo, you really don't have to – "

"Conquer that bitch like it's the fourth of July, son! Because when it goes down, you don't go down with it. Because though you let it think you are bread, you show it, no. You are not. And you look the tube in the eye – "

"Tubes don't even _have –_ "

"And you shout, 'I am tiitaaaaannnniiiiiuuuuuummmmm. You shoot me doooooowwwn. But I woooonn't falllll. 'Cause I am tiii – "

"Are you three planning on going on, or do I have to get security?" All three of them focused their attention on the man with a mustache behind them. The man's face was left impassive, like this _wasn't_ the most weirdest thing he say that day ( _welcome to my world_ , Jason thought) and gestured to a large, fluffy, rubber-like, yellow circle thing.

Piper smiled, embarrassed, and led them over to sit in the large, fluffy, rubber-like, yellow circle thing next to three others who were already sitting there and looked up at them as if they were retarded. As they took there places next to them, Jason being a little more cautious than the rest, and he looked over at all six of them, half being complete strangers.

As the mustache man came back, Jason realized with a jolt that this was actually happening; he was taking a risk this big on _purpose_. A so...so Piper's world thing to do...what would his family think of him? What would Reyna think of him? If his entire life was snatched away from him and his efforts to get back, all to be thrown away by doing something like...this. Too late, he realized he couldn't do anything to stop it. They were already slipping through the water.

And before his head engulfed the darkness, all he saw was a pair of variegated eyes glowing at his and a smirk that lit up his vision just slightly. "Hold on," Piper whispered softly, and the two of them, along with the four others, slipped down the tube in unison, his stomach dropping at the sudden twist, shake, and drop of the tube.

The six of them screamed together, the blood in his veins rushing as he forced his eyes open, the adrenaline pumping through him in time with the 'chlorine'-filled water roaring around him and soaking all of their bodies. The sudden changes he felt within the tube as they went faster, faster, faster, through the darkness, and the feeling of helplessness followed him as he couldn't see a _thing_. And then, when the rushing of the water seemed to slow down finally, he sighed in relief.

He noticed they were still inside the tube, and he wondered why. There was still darkness, and that only made him more apprehensive. He felt the nerves in his body stand on end as he realized something was wrong. Absolutely wrong. He was still shaking from the absolute coldness that surrounded him as his entire face, hair, chest, legs, and feet were a thousand percent soaked, his teeth chattering loudly.

"Is it over ye – ?"

Stupid, stupid, stupid question. Never ask that question unless you know for sure you are out of that thing completely. He realized this the moment all six of their legs gave in and they dropped, falling through what seemed thin air in the dark, and he cursed himself for being fooled by the silence that was there before.

Now, they screamed even more as they dropped through the dark, and when their large, fluffy, rubber-like, yellow circle thing crashed below onto the surface, the water roared over them, once again sending them into a shivering mess. Even as they finally approached the crack of daylight at the end of the tube, they were squirted by even more water from the side, almost like a sharp faucet. He would know this because he sprayed himself more than once in the bathroom when washing his hands. Don't judge.

When they rode out into the daylight, he couldn't help the grin that escaped across his lips as he squinted under the sun. He glanced over at his five accompanying passengers and was happy to see they looked soaked as well. Leo's hair that was once curly, was sticking pin-straight around his face, and a smile that was so wide gleamed across his face, his eyes lighting up with another mischievous look.

Piper, similar to them, was also drenched, and he felt himself letting out chuckles as he realized her bangs had covered her face completely, so much that he couldn't even see more than half of it. "Here, let me help you," he said, reaching over to her and prying the stubborn brunette pieces away.

When her eyes were able to be seen, she looked back up at his, and his breath hitched. There was something about the way she was beaming up at him, the way her smile was able to glorify happiness the way the daylight he saw in the tube never could, that made him shift uneasily where he sat. He realized his hand was still in her hair, but even though his mind willed himself repeatedly to take it out, he physically couldn't.

Piper seemed to notice as well because her smile seemed to falter for a moment there, and her lips parted. He didn't know why on earth they were acting like this. He didn't –

An icy rush of water splashed over the two of them, letting him be able to tear his hand away finally and look over at the attacker. Leo glanced at the two of them before rolling his eyes and gesturing for them to get up out of the thing.

Jason did without another glance towards Piper's way.

 _What just happened?_ That day was considered adventurous for him. The ride had only been a couple of minutes, but it was enough excitement to have lasted much more than that in his own realm. Leo and Piper were both great people; they treated him nicely and with respect, despite their boastful teasing.

So why was it so hard for him to admit that he could actually have some fun if he let himself?

* * *

 **A/N: Not entirely Jasper, but...we're certainly getting there. Review and let me know what y'all think. Honestly. When I get reviews, I feel more obligated to update, and I've been guilty for not updating sooner. Truth is, I've finished half of this two weeks ago, and though it's not an excuse as to why I didn't do all of it, I have been completely preoccupied with school and other things to focus wholeheartedly on this.**

 **But I will update. I'm not one to completely abandon this story when I already have so many plans for it.**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


	10. Respecting the Time

**A/N: I think I'm getting better at updating...sorta. Baby steps. Oh, by the way, we finished the first chorus of the song, so that means we are about one third finished with this story! I know it seemed like a much longer time since I started this, mainly because of my updates lately, but trust me, there is more to come.**

 **Plus, my birthday was on Wednesday, so I'm feeling a bit more joyful.**

 **Next scenario is: a rainy day (ironic, now that I think about it).**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters, nor do I own the song _New Perspective_ by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~Taking everything for granted  
_ _but we still respect the time~_

* * *

It has been two weeks since the first two weeks being there. As horrifying and slow as that may sound, Jason wasn't entirely distraught by this news. This just meant he was one third finished with being in the new realm. There were two moons – months, he now learned to be familiar with the term – left. And he would take what he could reap.

So, instead of his usual frown and negativity, he got up that day with a smile. He looked twice in the mirror, brushed his teeth leisurely, wore his – Leo's roommate's – clothes, which seemed to fit him better than Leo's, and even he couldn't miss the slight skip in his step. He was feeling optimistic. It was a once in a lifetime experience, he felt. Of course, around his father, he never was like this; he'd be caught dead before a peasant saw him with a goofy smile plastered on his face. But this was different.

After one more brush of his blond hair, he stepped out of the room at approximately 8:50 in the morning. As soon as he passed the doorway, a scent wafted his senses, and he paused, lifting up his nose for more. Whatever it was, he felt it smelt rather good.

A peek into the living room, and he saw it. Or rather – her. She was in night clothes still, though that didn't stop the fierce blush that swam across his cheeks when he took it in. Her cotton shorts reached mid-thigh, almost to her knees, but it was still awkward for him. Her shirt in which the sleeves were stripped off – a _tank top_ as she called it – didn't quite help the matter either. Thankfully, she had a white apron to adorn her front from more embarrassing matters.

She was beautiful, no doubt. She knew it, Leo knew it, Jason knew it, all the other boys who glanced at her twice knew it too. But that was the most he'd let himself ponder over. "What are you cooking?" he managed to ask.

Piper didn't even turn around, though he wasn't surprised; to him, she seemed to have eyes at the back of her head. "Food."

Jason rolled his eyes. "I mean _what_ food."

From the side of her face in which he could see, she grinned down at whatever was in the pan. "I know what you meant," she said, earning a groan from him. After a short while, she responded, "I'm making scrambled eggs."

He blinked. "What?"

She smiled wider. "You know. Eggs. That are scrambled."

He only flushed further. "I know what scrambled eggs are!" Piper chuckled, taking a wooden thing and nudging the eggs in the pan. "I meant...I wasn't expecting you to be cooking food at all."

"So you expected me to be cooking toys?" she asked.

Jason rolled his eyes, kneeling against the kitchen frame, watching her movements as she sprinkled some salt in the pan. "I could do without your smart comments for a day, you know."

"You love them, don't deny it," she said, shrugging. "Aren't you going to ask me what I'm doing at your apartment so early?"

"It's almost nine. That's not early," he pointed out, crossing his arms on his chest. "But fine: what are you doing here so early, may I ask?"

"Yes, you may," she said, amused thoroughly. "I'm here because I want to be. Also because it's raining as fuck, and my place is boring. And Leo's at Calypso' place, so he won't be coming back here for a while."

Jason looked outside and noticed that, indeed, it was raining outside. Heavily, in fact. He raised an eyebrow. "Again? Hasn't he been not here for two days straight? Are you not worried?"

"He texted me. Told me not to," she still didn't turn around fully to him, but his mind was too preoccupied to notice.

"Oh," he frowned, despite himself. "He didn't text me."

At that, she laughed, startling him slightly. "You don't have a phone, silly."

"Yeah," he said, feeling utterly oblivious for a moment there, "right."

She grinned before twisting a knob on the black thing below the pan, to what he assumed to be a lower heat setting. Piper kept smiling like that, her gaze on him crinkling as her dimples creased prominently.

"Are you going to tell me why you're looking at me like that?" he asked her, shifting uncomfortably under her stare.

She shook her head, chuckling. "You're upset that Leo didn't tell you where he was. You care."

He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, but he was sure even she saw the tint of red on his ears as he did so. "I just don't need him randomly missing. It would be a shame if he somehow got zapped into my realm, and he had nothing to do with it. Could you imagine him as a prince? Making orders that _didn't_ involve girls all the time?"

Her eyes narrowed, her creepy smile still there. He shifted again on to his other foot. "You're stalling. Why?" When he didn't answer, the corner of her lips quirked upwards once again, though it was bitter. Then again, most of her smiles were. "Why is it so hard for you to admit that you care about one of us?"

The tension in the room increased tenfold. His stomach felt queasy, and he felt he was starting to lose his appetite. Though despite the fact he couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes, he still tried to make his voice cautious and unfeeling. "What's with the sudden subject change, Piper?"

They were silent for a while. This was happening a lot, now that he realized it. The both of them snapping at the little things together. Especially when they were alone. It was like an invisible force kept pushing them to the limits, making him feel almost suffocated when he was around her. _God,_ he thought, _I've known this girl for a month._ Eventually, Piper sighed. Her defenses fell as her features softened characteristically. "You're right. I'm sorry. I guess I'm a little...I don't know." To change the matter again, she added, turning back around to her pan, "what's gotten you so happy, huh? When you entered the kitchen, you were practically skipping in your step."

He grinned, the previous tension dissipating. "Your grandfather is coming back in two months from that country you said earlier. That's okay if you can't communicate with him by...by phone because of roaming or whatever you call it, but still. Two months. Can you believe I survived even one month? Soon, I'll be back with Reyna in my arms and a whole kingdom to await me. I'll be home. What's there not to be happy about?"

Piper was silent. So silent in fact that her hand froze above the wooden spoon thing. "Piper? Are you okay?" he felt obligated to ask, but he was still concerned on the inside. It was like something had switched off momentarily.

Of course, it was just temporary because her hand moved again in the pan, and he saw her smile appear, this time soft and...something else he couldn't quite decipher. "Yeah. My stomach just rumbled a little. I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," he grinned. "But come on. You aren't even going to miss me one bit? You didn't just pause because you were hungry. When you're hungry you take pride in it. Stake claim in it. I know you." When he noticed her silence again, he frowned almost. "Piper? I was just teasing."

Slowly, he saw her shoulders move in a shrug. She turned to look at him, that same look he saw just moments before present on her right then, that same soft smile curving on her lips. "It's all you seem to do these days."

He frowned; he couldn't deny it this time – that definitely felt like a punch to the gut, and he didn't know why. He never did. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Piper shrugged again – _why_ does she keep doing that? She bit her lips, almost as if she was nervous. But what could she be nervous about? She was Piper McLean; she wasn't afraid of anything. "Is it so wrong to say that maybe we would miss you? And...perhaps, you wouldn't?" And this time, when he took in her words, catching that slight tint of vulnerability within those colorful eyes of hers, actually seeped it in his mind, it was his turn to become silent. She sighed, "at least...that's how you seem to feel. Am I wrong?"

He didn't answer. He didn't know how to. He was left speechless. Piper was always the one who didn't seem to care about the world, not him. Well, maybe him too, but Piper was something difficult. Something hard to understand. She made him want to. But how to respond? He didn't know how. He didn't know what she wanted from him – whether it would satisfy her or not.

Gratefully, he was saved from the impending wreck by her phone ringing, a tune that was about loud and reckless as her personality. She picked up the phone, and she frowned. "I have to take this," she said, her eyes not meeting his, shutting off the stove – yes, that's what it was called – before walking out of the kitchen.

What just happened?

Jason stood there, his brows furrowing in confusion, before walking over to the stove with caution. He glanced hesitantly at the pan, noticing the yellow shrivels of food inside, and ever so carefully, put his hand down on to the pan. With a sharp howl of pain from the abrupt heat that shot through his nerves, he jumped up, shaking his finger multiple times. "Ow..." he cursed.

"That's why you don't touch something metal right after it being heated," Piper said, returning back after hearing his shout. He knew she had been concerned, despite the fact she was using her smart comments as a way of escape; her pursed lips and expression said it all. The thought strangely satisfied him. "Metal is very conductive – meaning it can heat much faster than liquids, especially."

He raised an eyebrow, looking down on his now red finger that was slightly throbbing from the after effects. "How?"

"It's a particle motion of matter. Heat means energy. It causes the particles to move faster, and therefore, you burn yourself. Summing it all up, of course," she shrugged, walking closer to assess his finger. She gently took it in her own, glancing at it almost absentmindedly. "You'll be fine. It's just a minor burn. Be thankful it's just the pan and not the oven."

He nodded his head, though his mind was preoccupied with something else. His finger was still in her palm. Hers were strangely soft, compared to his. It was almost comforting. He cleared his throat, snapping out of it, "Don't I get like...a...what's it called?"

She laughed, her breath wafting over his neck, making him tired all of a sudden. "A Band-Aid? No. You wanna prove you're a prince? Suck it up."

She stepped back from him after that, her lack of presence letting him able to breathe again. _God,_ he prayed, _where is Leo when you need him?_ Deciding it would be better to change the subject, he asked, "So who called you?"

At this, she paused. Again. He winced internally, wondering why he did not seem to be on her good side today. "My...my sister. She was just calling to check up on me."

They fell into a silence as she walked behind him to the stove, more carefully than him, putting the scrambled eggs into two plates and spreading them. She nudged his eggs together, and he couldn't figure out why until she was done; his eggs were shaped into a smiley face. Granted, she did that to Leo's too on several occasions, but it was strange to see it on his now.

"I didn't know you had a sister," he said, disrupting the lack of noise.

She nodded. "I do. Her name's Drew. She's twenty today; she called to remind me."

"Oh, that's nice," he replied. He tried not to focus his mind on his own sister, Thalia Grace, from back home, and a rush of nostalgia hit him. He talked to Piper freely about her over the weeks he had been in the realm, but each time it still hit him. He missed her. To keep up the polite conversation, he asked,"Is she nice to you?"

In response, Piper took a fork and violently stabbed her eggs with it, pulling the metal thing to her lips and chomping down on it. Her eyes, however, gleamed unfeeling. "She's a slut."

Well, there was that.

He added that on the list of things not to talk about with Piper McLean unless one wanted their asshole to be ripped out from underneath them. No, he was not exaggerating. He'd seen her do it before. Well, to the meat she was cooking for Leo, but still. A human was no different.

They ate their food in silence, him giving her a small thanks. As he brought the eggs to his lips in a much more softer way than Piper had, he noticed that she was a _really_ good cook. Worthy of working in his royal dining area, he decided. But then again, they were just eggs. He reminded himself to not get ahead of himself.

"So what did you like to do for fun back at your home?" she asked, her tone shifting vastly into a much nicer one than before. He took the hint and responded immediately.

"Uh...well, I didn't do much. I was the prince, remember? I was always occupied," he said, trying not to give in to the fact he sounded pathetic right there. When he noticed her staring at him with a straight face (her _no bullshit face_ as Leo always claimed), he adjusted hastily, "There was always the fact there were balls every now and then. I'm a pretty good dancer, if I do say so myself."

She raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued. "Really?" He smiled bashfully, something strange coming from a notorious prince, he knew, but he couldn't help it. "I mean, I knew you could dance. Obviously, you must have been trained. But I didn't think you...liked it."

"I never said I liked it," he staked, shrugging and taking another bite of his breakfast. "I just said I could."

"Bullshit," she said. She grinned. He was thankful; he was afraid she'd never do that expression to him again. He was thinking they were finally starting to become close acquaintances if not friends. She stood up suddenly, walking over to her phone and began to scroll furiously.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "You're not gonna...make me dance, are you?"

When she glanced up at him, it was almost malicious. "That's exactly what I'm going to make you do."

And just like that, music, loud but strangely contagious, blared through her speakers, and he was enveloped in it, completely taken back from it. Especially when she started moving – her hips started _moving_ , and her hands flew to her hair, to her collarbone, then to her – "Piper what are you doing?" he shouted out as his eyes widened. There was no way this was appropriate. If the people back home could see the type of dancing Piper was doing right now, they'd faint in horror.

"I'm dancing," she said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What else?"

"Uh..." he didn't even find it in himself to answer. He felt he'd only embarrass himself. His cheeks flamed as his heart beat faster. "I – when I said I could dance, I didn't think – I mean..."

She rolled her eyes, sauntering towards him slowly. "I know what you meant. But you have to chill. Calm down. If you don't, I'm afraid you'll explode. Just...let go."

"I..." he trailed off, his eyes not leaving hers. From the way she was smiling at him, he could tell she was just being platonic with him. It was not like she wanted to force him into doing something he did not want to do. Reyna's face flashed across his eyelids, and he hesitated. "I don't know how to."

"I can teach you," she said, and this time, she raised out her hand for his, and he accepted it shakily, "if you let me."

Could he? Nodding slightly, she took him away and swung him around the kitchen as the music followed their footsteps, him tripping over his feet as she laughed, moving gracefully. "I...don't think I can do this, Piper," he stated, frowning as he bumped into the counter for about the tenth time.

She laughed, "Sure you can, _sire_." His breath hitched; it had been a long time since she called him that. The terms was oddly unfamiliar coming from her mouth. As if to prove herself even more, she grabbed his arm upwards and twirled herself under it, chuckling from his awkward cough.

"What song is this?" he choked out, twisting his body with hers around the kitchen once more.

"'I'm Sexy and I Know It' by LMFAO," she said, her eyes twinkling as she took in his reaction.

"Doesn't that mean..." he trailed off, and she looked at him, almost daring him to say it. He took the challenge anyway. "Laughing My Fucking Ass Off?"

Piper halted in her spot, making him bump into her so hard they almost fell over. His hand accidentally nudged at the hem of her shorts, coincidentally slipping in. Her skin was soft and smooth underneath, and his fingers trailed upwards further as he lost balance and bent over her. Her nose was _so close_ to his. He gulped and snatched his hand away from her thigh quickly, shaking as if he'd been scalded by her touch, stepping away until there was a respectable distance between them again.

 _Reyna, Reyna, Reyna, Reyna, Reyna, Reyna, Reyna, Reyna, Reyna,_ the name kept flashing like those red lights on streets he'd learned about and saw lately, and he ran his tongue over his lips in distraught. _Reyna...I'm in love with Reyna._

Then why was he reacting as if he'd touch the stove all over again? It was utterly strange, but he managed to convince himself it was just that he'd never touch a woman before like that...especially on their upper legs. He was just reacting this way because he was inexperienced. And if he was going to do it again, it would be with Reyna. When he got back home.

 _Yes. That's it._

Piper, however, didn't notice all these thoughts crawling like spiders in his brain because she was too busy shaking after she finally shut off the music. At first, he was worried why her face was covered by her hands, but then he relaxed as he heard her slight chuckles being muffled by her palms.

She was laughing. Drastically. At him.

He frowned. "Why are you laughing?"

She shook her head, finally coming down from that, still resorting into small chuckles. "Nothing, it's just..." she glanced at him, "I've never heard you curse like that with no shame before. I think I'm rubbing off on you...it's kinda...I don't know..." he'd die if she finished that sentence, he thought, "cute."

Dead. He's dead. The place suddenly got uncomfortable for him, and something prickled down his spine. He glanced at his arms, and he was in shock at what he saw. _Schism,_ he thought, _why are there goosebumps?_ She seemed to notice because she followed his gaze, and then she smiled crookedly at him.

 _Oh,_ he thought. _Oh._ He'd never seen her smile at him like that. It was weird.

He wanted – no, needed – it to stop. Something in his stomach fluttered. _That better be nausea,_ he tried convincing himself. _No. It's just because she's attractive. That's okay. A lot of girls are attractive. Reyna's gorgeous. Her looks would be able to take down any man. She's breathtakingly beautiful._

He thought of Reyna then with her long, voluminous black hair that was almost always obscured in a braid that extended down her back. He remembered tucking a bang behind her ear then kissing the spot of skin below it. He would mutter in her ear just how amazing she looked and how he couldn't take his eyes off of her, and then she would shiver from his words. Reyna would not stop smiling at him for the rest of the day.

Yet, an annoying chime in his mind reminded him that Reyna, despite being affected by him, did not affect him back the way Piper did now. He felt something in his pants harden – well, he knew what that something _was,_ but still. He remembered Leo talking about something like this happening to him, and he ignored it, but he did remember what Leo did to calm it down. At least temporarily.

Jason needed a cold shower. And fast.

The thought scared him.

So, naturally, he ignored it...reluctantly.

Piper walked towards one of the drawers next to the stove and pulled it, as if nothing even happened. She didn't think anything abnormal happened between the two of them, so why should he? The thought comforted him, and he sat down in his chair, pressing his legs together, hopefully so she would not see his...unusual predicament.

Piper came back momentarily, and she dropped something rectangular in front of him. He read the label, and he frowned. "What is so amusing about fifty two cards of paper?"

She grinned. "Poker, that's what." He continued staring blankly at him – at least now he was preoccupied enough to forget about his conflict moments before. But still...he had a feeling he should be prepared.

"I don't know how to do...that," he finished lamely.

She blinked at him, the same mischievous edge she always held to all of her responses. As if she always kept a secret from the world, and she was just waiting for something or someone to unwrap it like a present. Piper was more than confusing, he thought, she was confounding. Always a surprise.

"I can teach you..." Piper offered once more, and he remembered when she said that when they were dancing together. But now...he had a feeling she was talking about other things than just...Poker. "If you let me."

With one last cautious glance at her, he grinned, nodding as if to encourage her. She picked up the little box of cards and held it in her palm before taking them out separately.

If she was willing to teach, then he was willing to learn.

* * *

 **A/N: If this wasn't Jasper, I don't know what was. He's finally accepted her. It only took about a third of the story, but we're here! It's just a matter of time for them, huh?**

 **Remember to review and all that jiz!**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


	11. Some New Passion

**A/N: Okay, I actually do have a valid reason for updating late this time: finals! And I am done! Yayyyyyy.**

 **This scenario is: meeting the fam**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters, nor do I own the song _New Perspective_ by P!ATD.**

* * *

 _~We move along with some new passion  
_ _knowing everything is fine~_

* * *

Jason saw her again. That same glossy black-haired girl at the water park. She had not noticed him yet, but judging how him and Leo were standing plain in the middle of the grocery aisle, it was only a matter of time. She was studying a jar labeled 'peanut butter' as if it was the most important, time-consuming thing in the world.

He frowned. He looked over at Leo, who was busy being engrossed by staring into the large video game (he knew what these were because Leo played them all the time) cabinet with large puppy-dog eyes. He suddenly remembered Piper's ever-so subtle words when she had hissed at her best friend: _"Don't you remember what she did to you? She's a bitch, and you know it."_

Jason pondered his options at the moment: he could either pry and bring up the topic while letting the girl know they were there, or he could warn Leo so they could run away from the impending time-bomb. Just as he was about to do the latter, Leo, being Leo, took a step toward the video game glass cabinet, but he knocked some other things from one of the black shelves right next to it. "Shit," Leo cursed, suddenly blushing at his clumsiness.

Jason chuckled and bent down, helping his present roommate out and methodically ordering the disks back on the little shelf. "You're not graceful, you know that?"

"Ha ha," Leo muttered sarcastically, abating his voice slightly as to not to draw attention. "Graceful, very funny." That caused him to roll his eyes but smile nonetheless.

As he stood up fully once again, his eyes caught at the girl who was now staring heavily at the two of them, her gaze burning to him. Jason licked his lips nervously; he'd almost forgotten about her. He looked back down and noticed Leo was still immersed in his shuffling before he gazed back at the girl.

Subconsciously, he began to cross his arms self-consciously due to the way the girl was staring at him; however, it only made her deep brown eyes darken with lust at his arms, and even he noticed the slight bulge in his muscles. _Damn my physical beauty,_ he thought with half a mind.

The girl was pretty; her nose was upturned in a petite manner, her eyebrows seemed arched to perfection, and her lips were a sweet cherry red color. If it wasn't for the way she then smiled at him and beckoned him over with her index finger, he would have almost thought her to be beautiful.

It was like she had not even noticed Leo, and judging about their obvious past with each other, the thought made Jason sick with disgust. Without second inquiries, he reached down and pulled Leo up on his feet. "Ow – Jason, what the hell?!" Leo all but screamed.

When Jason cleared his throat and nodded his head over to the girl, Leo acquiescently turned his head over and followed his gaze. Leo froze next to him, confirming his suspicions. "Fuck," he cursed again, his frown deepening. The sight was so strange, Jason felt he was obligated to wipe it off his face. "Isabel." The name sounded desperate but bitter all at the same time. Basically a sum up of Jason's life so far.

The girl – Isabel, as Leo so generously called her – finally lifted her heated gaze on him to the lanky boy next to him, and her eyes narrowed. Leo raised his eyebrows at her before mockingly giving her an air-kiss. Isabel, instead of looking offended by this like Jason expected, smirked and winked before turning around with her jar of peanut butter and swaying her hips while strutting away.

Jason whistled lowly, snorting, not believing the girl's attitude at all. She was uncaring and unfeeling like she couldn't give two craps about them. She only cared about...well, muscle. Which Jason fortunately but unfortunately had. "Wow, Piper was right...she really is a..."

"Bitch?" Leo offered, smiling bitterly. As Jason peered over at his roommate's face, he noticed the hurt in Leo's eyes and figured out immediately what the girl must have done to him.

He shrugged. "I was going to a say a desperate hoe, but sure, that works too."

At this, Leo turned to look at him, giving him an incredulous look. Then, he burst out laughing, clutching his stomach in his impetuous laughter. When his chuckles ceased, he looked back up at Jason, his almost betraying his revere in the situation. "Me and Piper really are horrible influences for you, huh?"

Jason shook his head, "Piper and _I_ ," he corrected. Leo shook his head, smiling widely; he was happy that he was now happy. That was all Jason was aiming for, anyway.

"And _I_ am seriously loving you right now," Leo grinned, and before Jason could anticipate anything, he leaned forward and placed a sloppy, wet kiss on the boy's cheek. Jason grimaced and moved to shake the skinny boy off of him. The stupid boy just kept on laughing. "Why are you so mad? Is it because I said it before Piper did?"

That made him freeze in his mid-tackle with Leo, and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a worker walk by them and widen her eyes at the situation. Immediately, Jason backed off of Leo and frowned as the worker reluctantly walked away. "Don't ever say that. I'm engaged. Why do you people always forget that?"

Leo rolled his eyes. "Because it doesn't fucking matter, that's why. Everyone _knows_ that you want nothing more to get inside Piper's pants – well, shorts – and stay like that."

Jason opened his mouth to indignantly answer back with a sharp retort, but he got interrupted by Leo taking a tub of salt on one of the nearer shelves in the aisle and throwing it at him. It hit the ground with a thud after nudging against his stomach, and he glared up at Leo. "What was that for?!"

"Shh," Leo hissed. When he continued to stare at him strangely, the only thing he received was a whisper: "You just got _assaulted_."

Jason smacked his roommate's head and walked away.

* * *

"Remind me again why we are here?" he asked Leo for about the umpteenth time since they arrived at Piper's apartment. It was a first, he realized. He'd never been at Piper's chambers before, and he couldn't help himself; he was rather curious. Leo told him that they would be coming over her to pay a visit after their little trip at the grocery store, but he could not understand the point as to why.

" _Again,_ " Leo exclaimed, groaning in irritation. He was wearing what he normally wore: a t-shirt and those long boy shorts or whatever. "Piper told us to come here and, I quote, _save me, I'm dying_." When Jason continued to look at him confusedly, Leo sighed. "She doesn't mean it _literally_ , of course. I think."

"You told me her family is here," Jason cut to the point, walking in pace with Leo as the walked down the hallway. "Does...does that mean...?"

Leo shook his head immediately, making Jason frown as he realized what that meant. His stomach dropped suddenly with disappointment but still apprehension. "No...Grandpa Tom – her grandfather – is not here. Yet. Until, you know...two more months." At the sight of Jason's frown deepening, he hastily continued, trying to avoid the obvious foreboding subject, "But as to why Piper's upset...well, she doesn't exactly like her family that much. Wait, scratch that. She does, but..."

"She does not like her sister?" Jason took a guess, remembering how a week ago the subject had been very raw to Piper. He remembered her calling her own blood a hateful term, and he felt chills just thinking about it. Then again, he later forgot about it due to the two of them dancing around the kitchen, stumbling in his own clumsiness, touching her thighs, and feeling the abrupt bulge in his –

"How do you know about Drew?" Leo asked, getting curious and turning to look at him in the eye.

Jason, still thinking about that day in the kitchen, felt his cheeks turn unnaturally hot at the feel of Piper's skin next to his, and he gulped down thin air to no avail. "It's a long story."

Leo still had that suspicious glare in his eyes, but he eventually shrugged it off as they finally halted at the door step. Jason let his gaze roam around, taking in the small mat below the step that read 'welcome' and looking up to see a flower pot that seemed to be dehydrated of water. The flowers that were once lilies now seemed shrivel gray snake sheddings. _Lovely,_ Jason noted.

The boy next to him reached his fist up towards the door, preparing to give an impetuous knock that Jason was sure would ring for miles, but before he could do that, the door swung open, revealing a very distraught Piper McLean. The first thing he took in from her was her hair, displaying a flurry of a canopy of brown hair. It almost reminded him of when they first arrived into this realm, and she was so shaken up, she had twigs and leaves sprinkled here and there.

Her hair looked like that but minus the extra Christmas tree decorations, of course.

"Finally, you two fuckheads are here. I was just thinking of ways to pluck the hair of your greasy heads off," she hissed, her eyes looking almost murderous. Jason hesitantly took a step back, aware that she could spring any second, but he stopped short as he notice Leo break out into laughter. Clearly, she did this too often to be considered really threatening.

Jason chuckled along with Leo but a lot more cautiously and anxiously. The very annoyed girl snapped her eyes over to his and gave him a dark scowl. "What are _you_ laughing about?" He felt he could choke if he giggled nervously one more time. She looked as if she was planning to eradicate him.

A clearing of the throat cut the both of their heated stares off – well, her heated stare. All three of their attentions being placed on the tall man behind Piper, both him and Leo's laughter ceasing to a stop. "Piper, I didn't know you invited some people over."

Jason looked at the man's features: his dark tan skin, Roman sculpted nose, high cheekbones, long lashes, and chestnut hair that was geld back in what seemed almost a professional way. But then again, he knew nothing about style – not in this realm, at least. The man, however, looked rather familiar; it was not as if Jason knew him personally, but as if... _Oh._ All the man was missing was a pair of ever-changing eyes to replace the dark brown and a cocky smirk, then he would be the exact replica of Piper but the male version.

He glanced back at Piper, anxious for an entire different reason now. Piper rolled her eyes, "Dad, I told you that if Mitchell gave me a noogie one more time, I was gonna call for repercussions."

"Yeah...that technically is my fault, Dad," Jason's gaze went up to stare at another man, who looked exactly _not_ alike Piper and her clear father. The man – teenage boy, that was the better term, considering he looked about the same age as him – too had brown hair, but that was where the similarities stopped. His eyes were a sea blue and his skin was more pale than naturally tanned. The boy looked more like Jason than Piper or her father. "Piper and I were making planet cookies, and she just happened to knock over the remaining batter – "

"I can't believe you're _still_ mad about that!"

"I wanted to eat the batter, okay?!"

"You always want to eat the batter, you pig!"

"Can you seriously blame me? You hog it all the fucking time!"

"Because you're always eating the frosting!"

Their little bickering session was cut short by Jason's slight chuckle, and they both turned to stare at him blankly. "What?" he inquired, questioning on why they had gotten silent all of a sudden.

The boy with the blue eyes – Mitchell, Piper called him – stared at him in confusion. He seemed to size him up before frowning, and Jason did not know why. "Who the hell are you?"

Since he was having a hard time trying to figure out how to answer that, Leo, thankfully, helped to rescue him from the impending disaster. "His name's Jason. He's a friend of mine and Piper; he's in biology with us. Don't worry, man, he won't hog all the food; I'll make sure of it."

The boy gave him one last judging once over before, and suddenly, his lips cracked into a large grin. _Well, he certainly has mood swings, then._ "Ah, right, _Jason_. The boy Piper _never_ talks about." Jason was certain that was meant to hurt his ego, but he still remained utterly questioning as to what he was doing there. Mitchell, despite his warm smile, seemed particularly teasing of him as if he was trying to get on his nerves, and that, Jason noted, was definitely a similarity between him and Piper.

Piper slapped Mitchell on the side not too kindly, but the boy did not seem affected, his heart-breaker grin still gleaming on his face. "Ignore him. He's on his period. Anyways, Jason, this is Tristan, my dad," she introduced, gesturing to the tall man Jason had seen when they first arrived. Her father stared at him with the same look Mitchell had been giving him, but he seemed a lot more wary around him than the boy. "And this little sucker over here is Mitchell, my brother."

"Well, adopted brother," Mitchell cut in, flinging a playful arm around Piper's shoulders and staring up at him. "Piper here is too loving of me to admit this, me being older and all. I, along with Drew who is currently taking her dandy time in the shower, are adopted."

"Yeah, he heard you the first time, _Mitchy_ ," Piper snorted, escaping out of her brother's death grip. "And _I'm_ the one who's older."

"Only by a few months, Pipes," Mitchell replied, then he turned to stare at Leo before nodding his head in a sign that Jason now learned to be as the 'bro code' as Leo sensitively put it. "'Sup, Leo," he said, to which Leo replied with a grin and a sarcastic reply.

And with that, Leo stepped inside the quaint little apartment, which reminded Jason of Leo's (the outline of it was rather much the same). Leo gestured for Jason to follow him which he did reluctantly. When they were uncomfortably settled down a bit, Leo cut the awkward silence and stated out loud, "So, I heard something about planet cookies?"

"Planet cookies?" Jason echoed, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Oh, yeah," Piper whispered quiet enough so that only him and Leo could hear but not the others. "I forgot you were raised around the geocentric theory where the earth is the center of the universe." Leo snorted in response. Jason continued to stare at her confusedly.

"What are you talking about? The earth _is –_ "

Mitchell nodded, his face grinning widely (he nor his father had heard the three's exchange, or they would have probably been suspicious and curious). "Planet cookies, baby." When Jason turned around to look for the father, he could not find him; he probably had to go do some work, he reasoned. After all, Piper told him he could get rather busy with his career and all.

Mitchell led them towards the kitchen where nine baked goods lay on a pan, clearly cooling after heating.

"Hey, that's cheating," Leo pouted, staring at the cookies as well. "Pluto ain't a planet."

Mitchell frowned. "It should be. We shouldn't discriminate against the smaller planets. If it is revolving around the sun, then it is a planet." Jason was confused with this whole business of everything revolving around the sun, but he decided to not look dumb just this once and keep quiet.

"Well, technically," Leo reasoned, "it's _slightly_ off course, not exactly revolving around the sun, but – "

"You're slightly off course."

"True."

"You can have any cookie you want."

"Mkay," Leo shrugged. Then, his eyes brightened up with mischief as he took one of the medium-sized circular cookies which were colored a light shade of blue. That surprised Jason; he thought he would have taken the biggest cookie in the center instead of one of the smaller ones, knowing Leo. Or, perhaps the one with the weird slanted circular thing that looked like a ring. "Hey, Piper."

He looked strangely excited while Piper stared up at him, her eyes telling just how apathetic she was. "What?" she drawled out.

"It's the only time I ever get to eat Ur-anus!" Leo blurted, and Mitchell, to Jason's surprise, burst out laughing until they both had tears leaking out of their eyes. Jason, on the other hand, remained still as his mind could not comprehend the meaning of the joke.

Piper chuckled lightly before reaching over and holding up a cookie that was a little darker shaded. "Keep talking like that, and I'll stick Mercury up your ass. And I'm not talking about the planet."

Mitchell continued belting out his insane chuckles while Leo started smiling sheepishly while still laughing. Jason still did not understand. "Ah, Jesus," Mitchell said, his fingers reaching up to wipe away the wetness that was leaking out of his eyes. "I forgot how stupidly funny you are, Valdez."

Leo shrugged, looking proud of himself. "You're forgiven," he said smartly.

Piper seemed to notice his unease about being left out, so she took the big cookie in the center and split it in half. "Here ya go," she said not unkindly, surprisingly different than how her voice was a while back. He took the half of the cookie gratefully but not without noticing the big red circular dot in the center.

"What's this?" he asked, gesturing to the huge blob in the center. She looked over at the cookie before grinning slightly.

"It's Jupiter's great red spot. Did you hear it's shrinking?" she asked mockingly before laughing at his clueless face. "That was a joke. Of course you didn't, you don't even know what it is."

He narrowed his eyes at her, starting to feel slightly offended. "Instead of laughing at me for not knowing these things, you could at least inform me. And did you mention Ju – "

"Jupiter? Yes, I did," she said, crunching on her cookie merrily while smiling at him through the frosting that caked her mouth. "Though it doesn't have to do with your father. Or it might. I'm not sure. Don't worry about it."

He breathed through his nose harshly before opening his mouth, preparing to say something when Mitchell beat him to it. "What are you two talking about?" he snapped, looking at the two of them as if he had not even pictured them to be talking to each other. The way Mitchell stared at him hinted out to be...protective, and it was starting to make Jason feel threatened. He shifted uneasily before turning around again to look back at Piper.

She seemed irritated if nothing. "None of your business. Keep armpit farting with Leo; see if we care." She went back to continue talking to Jason, but Mitchell was relentless; despite being adopted, he seemed to share more traits with her than she did with her father. Then again, Jason did not even know her father to even judge.

"Jason, right?" Mitchell asked, his eyes narrowing as he began to stare harshly at him. Jason, trying his best not to show he was affected, met him glare for glare, attempting one of his best intimidation stares. Apparently, it did not go as planned because that just made Mitchell more prying. "Where are you from, man?"

'Man', Jason now was comfortable enough with the terminology he learned from Leo to know not to flinch or react in an unusual way. This time, Piper spoke for him instead, "He's from California, Mitchell."

If anything, Mitchell's eyes sparked with interest even further. His facial features glimmered with something different, and Jason knew he was treading on dangerous grounds here. "A fellow Californian, huh? That would explain the blonde hair and clearly fake tan. Well, where, then?"

Piper opened her mouth to reply, but he knew that if she kept on answering questions that were meant for him, it would not help the situation. So, Jason replied, thankful for his geography lessons with Leo. Yes, Leo taught him geography. The world really was changing. "San Francisco."

At that, Mitchell grimaced, crossing his arms across his chest. "Ooh, home of the beggars. And hills. Lots and lots of huge hills."

Piper walked over to Mitchell and shoved him hard, making him lose his balance slightly. Despite them being siblings, Jason was grateful for the support, but he strangely still felt offended. But why should he? It was not like he was actually from there. They were just saying it to throw off unattended curiosity. Piper sighed before staring at Jason, throwing him a sweet smile that he almost believed, "Ignore him. He doesn't actually hate San Francisco. He just hates you."

Jason snorted. "That makes me feel so much warmer." The next time Mitchell looked at him, it was not with contempt and confusion. Jason took it he bought it. At that moment, he was grateful that his accent was slowly slipping away. It ceased his drawing of attention, and if it had not, then Mitchell would not have believed his whereabouts. But, still...his accent was something that was apart of his...his life. And now that he was losing it...it made him feel as if he was losing a life that once seemed permanent.

If he was losing his accent, did that mean he was losing his identity?

Mitchell smiled, his posture a lot more relaxed before tensing up a bit. His body seemed to freeze as he looked as if he was considering something he had not before. Just as Jason was about to take another bite of his cookie, Piper's brother spoke. "Hey, so...are you two, like...screwing?"

He almost choked. Again. Heat flared into his cheeks, and he gazed over at Piper who looked just as mortified as him. Leo, who he almost forgot was there, was laughing again, which seemed all he knew how to do. Before they could both either say something, a new voice, almost sultry and seductive sounded, and it made his bones chill. "Well, this is an interesting predicament."

There was a girl with black hair and dark cocoa colored eyes. Her hair wrung wet around her shoulder in frenzy curls while she stared up at him through thick lashes. But that was not what caught his attention. She was in nothing but a _towel_. He glanced away hastily, his lips twisting slightly into a frown. _This must be Drew_ , he thought before staring up at Piper.

He froze as he saw her expression. It was one of distrust and disappointment, looking as if she wanted to punch the girl in the towel or just stand there and bask in the hurt. With her lips turned downwards in a disapproving frown, she stared indignantly back at who was clearly her sister. "Drew."

"Piper," the girl said, cocking her head to the side and smirking. Her eyes were covered with dark shadowy things along with some other black thing that made her eyelashes look longer than they were. It was right then that he knew the girl had planned it. How could the girl shower but then wear makeup without wearing her clothes? Jason had dealt with enough girls like her; they were all over him back at the castle. But she...she was experienced, unlike those other girls. Like she knew exactly what she wanted, and she would fight to get it.

But there was another similarity between her and the girls back at the castle; they reminded him of that other girl Isabel at the grocery store. Them, along with Piper's sister, reeked with desperation.

It made him grimace.

"I haven't seen you in two months, _Pipes_ ," the way the girl said it made it seem like it was an insult rather than an endearing nickname. Jason, along with the others, watched the exchange with fascinated but confused eyes.

"You called me a week ago," Piper pointed out, feigning innocence when he knew she wanted nothing more to snidely remark. "To remind me that it was your birthday."

"Just wanted to make sure you remembered," Drew replied, the water droplets from her hair hitting the floor wetly. Why she was just in a towel, the world and the previous may never know. "By the way, how's Dylan? Is he doing fine after the break-up?"

The kitchen went silent. Jason swore he probably would be able to hear a pin-drop after all this tension; he glanced to the left and saw Mitchell staring at Drew similar to the way Piper was but in a protective manner, and Leo just kept on raising his eyebrows at her in disbelief, like he could not believe she was being for real right then. Piper just stared, her eyes not betraying any emotion at all; it reminded him of how she looked at him when they first met, now that he thought of it. It seemed so long ago.

 _Who is Dylan?_

Drew, clearly getting the response she wanted, smirked cruelly. Then, suddenly and surprising him abruptly, she walked towards him, her trail slow and attempting to be alluring. Her towel was placed in a way he was scared it might drop, and he wanted to run while he could because she was not what he wanted to happen right now. The girl halted right in front of him, and the children in the kitchen did nothing but watch, inquisitively watching the precarious situation while he was left in the dumps, confused.

She leaned forward the same time he stepped back, his back hitting the counter behind him. Drew's seductive posture flickered, as if she was not expecting him to refuse her so clearly like that, but before he could feel satisfaction for it, she held her ground like a vice. The girl wrapped her arm around his torso and reached behind him; he turned around to notice the plate of cookies was still behind him. She took a cookie before slowly stepping back from him.

It was his big red spot cookie. The one he recently just put in his mouth. And she bit into it, allowing his saliva in her mouth. Her eyes remained on his the entire time, but he did not understand. If she thought this was making him feel aroused in any sort of way, as in the way (he reluctantly had to admit) when he touched Piper's upper thighs the other day, then she was very, very egregiously wrong.

She slowly walked around the corner of the kitchen and turned her back to him and left, leaving him flabbergasted and disgusted. She treated and looked at him as if he were a piece of meat.

When the shock of what happened finally settled down, he caught everyone's eyes on him, burning through him for any type of reaction. Even Mitchell and Leo, who were a lot alike, he grew to learn.

But when he looked over at Piper, his heart stopped. She was...glaring at him. As if the one thing in the world she may hate more than her own sister was him. Her eyes burned with something strange, and the way she crossed her arms across her chest was almost in a defensive manner. She was angry at him; he understood that much.

"What?" he asked her, breaking the sharp silence that bit into him harder than a knife.

She answered back by narrowing her eyes further. Then, her features softened considerably, and soon, that smile of hers was back on and radiating. But even he could tell it was fake and tainted with fatigue. As if she was not in a war she could possibly find herself winning.

"Nothing," she said reluctantly, turning away to look at the refrigerator blankly. He continued staring at her. Was she...? _No,_ he told himself forcefully, shaking the thought away before he could ponder on it. But still, the possibility was quite ubiquitous.

Piper was beautiful. She should not have to be threatened by that by her own sister. So, why did she stare at him the way she did?

Mitchell was the first to break the silence, clearing his throat and offering a tentative smile. "Uh...can one of you guys pass me a cookie?"

* * *

 **A/N: Jealous or nah, Piper? DeNial ain't just a river in Egypt, honey bun. Isn't Drew an annoying little brat? I'm not sure if I should make these new characters people who will show up more often (like a reoccurring member) or not. I honestly think Mitchell has potential, but Drew is annoying to write because her character is flat.**

 **Tell me what you think :)**

 **Till next time,**

 **Penguin**


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